Unforeseen Consequences
by Agent-G
Summary: Ino tries to pull a prank on Naruto that backfires in the worse way as she is trapped in his mind. After she never sees Naruto the same way again. Taken over from Gaming Ikari but with new chapters later on. Naruto/Ino/Sakura, Tsunade/Jiraiya.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything else. Originally this story was written by Gaming Ikari but the author couldn't finish so I decided to finish it up. The first three chapters were written by the other author, I did add in or edit a bit here and there but the majority is like the original and yes they did give me permission to do this.

**Unforeseen Consequences**

**Chapter 1: Prank gone wrong.**

Lounging on the veranda tiles, against the wall shadowed by the eaves of a three-story building, fifteen-year-old Ino Yamanaka appeared to be doing nothing more sinister than killing time and enjoying shelter from the sun's heat. Nose lightly twitching to enjoy the daisies in the flower box her head lay again, her gaze slowly wandered from one point to the next as if she watched the crowd far below only to keep from falling asleep.

This appearance was a carefully-planned deception. If anyone could actually see she was there, they might have noticed that the dark color of her clothes blended into the wall almost entirely, making her invisible to the casual observer. Likewise, the wooden flower box she currently used as a pillow meant her blond hair and pale face were also camouflaged. Combined with the gentle slope of the tiles underneath and her height, one would have to be an experienced jonin or ludicrously alert to discern her presence.

Her target was laughably far from the first. The youngest member of the Yamanaka clan also knew that her target, Uzumaki Naruto, was forever wandering into traps. He would never know she was there, which was probably for the best.

Naruto was always playing pranks on other people... Surely it was his turn to be on the receiving end. One simple application of her jutsu and she could cause all sorts of mayhem. She could make him single carols in the streets. She could have him romance the most inappropriate people. She could make him seem to enjoy sushi, despite his vehement objections to the sight of the stuff.

She could make him do whatever she wanted, for she was Yamanaka Ino and she had the powerful Shintenshin no Jutsu under her control.

It was pretty simple, too. All she had to do was wait until he was eating his fill at Ichiraku Ramen. Clueless to her presence, the blond girl could then use her technique to take control of him, at least for a while. She planned to make him do quite a few embarrassing things and then she'd release her jutsu, leaving the clueless genin to deal with the consequences.

Perhaps revenge is a dish best served cold. Ino agreed, chocolate ice cream being a guilty pleasure she did her best to indulge only rarely. He deserved every bit of what she would do to him, she reflected. Her thoughts turned as grim as the scowl on her face. Even with that stupid crush of his, how dare he say that Sakura and her giant forehead were a million times prettier than her! How could anyone who knew her or indeed, anyone at all compare her hair to the color of his urine!? Didn't he have any respect at ALL!?

This would not just be fully justified revenge. It would be righteously delivered heavenly punishment. Other boys had compared her to an angel often enough she felt justified in visiting this treatment on him. Anybody who so thoroughly disparaged the appearance of any woman could expect nothing less.

Noting that Naruto was not currently occupying one of Ichikaru Ramen's stools, Ino settled in for a bit of a wait.

One could rely on the orange-clad youth to proclaim the inevitability of being a Hokage any time he thought it necessary. It was almost a certainty that he would go to outrageous lengths to prove himself to his comrades, ignoring the theoretical superiority of the most dangerous foes to find that minute grip on victory. To think that the blond would ever eat anything over Ichikaru Ramen unless he had no choice was as alien a thought as any his comrades had ever had.

The silver-eyed girl smiled to herself. She could be patient.

oOo

Fresh from his training with Kakashi-sensei, Naruto could only focus on the gnawing hunger in his empty stomach. Despite the miasma of delicious scents attempting to pull him to the various stands from which they wafted, the youth resolutely continued to walk: Only the best would do after such a hard day's work.

Ichikaru Ramen was his destination.

No yakitori skewers, however tasty, could deflect his resolve. Naruto waved to Chouji as his friend sat in one of the booths. He shook his head to turn down the offer of the seat across from the portly ninja.

No okonomiyaki, however dense the toppings, could tempt him to commit culinary adultery. Even the cute brunette behind the griddle's flirting comments, enhanced by a tight blue shirt and clinging black leggings, could not draw him from his path.

Naruto couldn't help but grin as he saw the sign which heralded the end of his temptation-laden gauntlet and the beginning of edible nirvana. No other food could sate his hunger the way it was quelled by those tender noodles. Were he stranded in the largest, most barren desert, the boy would take a bowl of the succulent broth over a glacier-cold oasis any day.

Though it was already close to evening, Ichikaru Ramen's stools were empty. The old man smiled as he waved a hand in greeting, his two new assistants now rushing back and forth in the limited space in a frenzy. Both young men knew how many different things went into a Naruto Special and dreaded the alarming decimation about to be visited on their ingredients.

The young man's arrival also explained the absence of other customers. No other resident of Konoha ate at the restaurant when Naruto did and housing the Kyubi caused none of this aversion. The fact that Naruto commanded the old man's attention and depleted nearly all of the ingredients meant that whenever the blond was around, the service was much worse and the variety unusually limited.

With an enthusiastic greeting for the grey-haired owner, the blue-eyed ninja sat down in his favorite stool at the center of the stand. His first bowl of the Naruto Special was always the best: His palate was clear, his anticipation heightened by the span of time since he'd last ate the owner's edible opus.

However, the orange-clad genin never took the time to pause and appreciate that first bowl. The second was always just a fraction less sumptuous than the first. Why wait when more was available?

He'd already slurped down his third bowl as Iruka-sensei arrived, sliding onto the stool to Naruto's left and grinning. The chunin teacher sat next to his favorite student ordering his own meal and taking a moment to ponder the incredible change in strength of the once-time worst student.

Neither Iruka nor Naruto had a clue that the younger ninja was in social peril. The chunin and genin both failed to sensed the blond girl currently targeting the ramen-binging youth..

oOo

His posture was completely relaxed, head thrown back as he tilted his bowl to slurp the last dregs of broth in his bowl. His shoulders shook as Iruka turned his head to the young ninja, the blond's booming laughter loud enough to reach the kunoichi where she lounged in concealment. Whatever her former classmate said in reply wasn't loud enough to carry up to the girl, though Iruka's resulting laughter matched Naruto's for volume.

For a moment, Ino hesitated. This moment of joy was one of those moments she imagined the boy treasured most. Guilt nipped at the edges of her vengeance-fuelled determination as she felt a strange desire not to intrude. It was one thing to cause the boy some embarrassment...

It would be terrible and cruel to steal a time of happiness from him. More than he deserved for his comments. She would find him again when Iruka wasn't around, when the joy in initiating her vengeance wouldn't be marred by the spectre of guilt.

Her decision to leave was quickly countermanded by a flood of anger which washed away guilt as Naruto made a fist at the back of his head and pulled it back, as if indicating a ponytail. The fuming girl distinctly heard the boy say "pee" in between bouts of chuckling. Her conscience was ignored as her hands flashed in a series of seals, ending with fingers contorting to form a heart.

Ino grimly smiled as she watched Naruto through her fingers. It would begin with a visit to Temari, staying at the guest lodge. That would draw the ire of both the girl's brothers and Shikamaru as well. Then a couple visits to places the boy had sworn he'd never eat. Perhaps even a prank on Sakura.

The cute blond boy would learn, very soon, not to mess with a Yamanaka.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu," she whispered, feeling the numbness hit her body as her spirit vacated. Chakra fused with the separation of her consciousness to form a wild rush through the air as she bored directly into Naruto's body, hitting with no more force than a slight tap. She felt the familiar tingle in foreign extremities as Naruto's body became her puppet.

Then the feeling changed. A force slammed into her from all directions, an unstoppable avalanche, blanking all thought. Control over the boy's body was ripped from her in the same moment. She felt herself falling.

Hitting the ground in a smooth crouch, she found herself looking through large steel bars at a room built of rusted metal sheets crudely fastened to an unseen structure. Ice-cold water deep enough to chill her calves flooded the floor, making the echoing plip of dripping water much louder than it might have been otherwise. The only exit seemed to be a darkened hallway on the other side of the room, just through the bars.

What the hell?

"**Well, it looks like I get to eat now, too," **a voice murmured from behind her, so loud and deep she felt the vibrations deep in her chest. Ino turned to see large eyes, red irises dancing wildly. A great deal of teeth then emerged from the darkness in a smile, each as large as she was. She realized she was in this thing's cage, and that the great steel bars were the prison.

Her stomach dropped: she was on the wrong side.

"**A virgin, too,"** The great being roared, a snuffling sound emerging from the darkness. The inky black hiding the teeth widened into a smile, showing that what she thought had been a large mouth was small compared to the reality. **"I'll have to thank the brat."**

Ino tried to release her jutsu as those teeth opened.

Even as she raised her hands to form the seal, Ino knew she was far too slow.

oOo

Both ninja eating at Ichikaru Ramen paused, eyes dropping to orange-clad belly as a deep purring rumbled suddenly from Naruto's stomach.

"Hey, Naruto..." Iruka queried after a moment, gesturing to Naruto's midsection with his chopsticks. "Are you all right?"

"I must still be hungry," Naruto shrugged, shoving the strange noise from his mind. Ramen needed eating. The blue-eyed genin handed his empty bowl to the smiling old man, already reaching for another bowl. "Another special, please!"

Neither the fifteen-year-old or his former teacher noticed the soulless body sitting on the roof behind them as it jolted once, struck by some invisible force. The involuntary shift altered the girl's balance, slowly tipping her torso forward. The angle was steep enough that as her torso hit the roof chest first, her weight was enough for her to slip from her perch, limply bouncing off of a sign before landing in a dumpster with a dull thud.

oOo

In the village of Konoha, one of the first lessons potential ninja learned at the academy, drilled into each and every student from the start, was the need to fight panic and take a half-second to assess the situation before acting. This lesson had proven it's worth many times, giving Konoha ninja an edge some foes never notice until they found themselves defeated.

Ino was not prone to panic, having learned just how powerful she could become if she remained calm. The girl had seen careful consideration allow Shikamaru and her team to prevail over theoretically superior foes. Their three man team nearly fought two members of Akatsuki to a standstill, a feat few other ninja in the world could boast... let alone one Chunin fighting and defeating a member of Akatsuki in one on one combat.

When the nine-tailed Kitsune it lunged forward she paused for a fraction of a section to consider how to best avoid the terrible jaws that reflexive prudence, for the first time, nearly cost her her life.

Only the uncontrollable, terror-inspired twitch of her calves edged her back enough for those terrible jaws to miss, the deep clack of the missed bite washing a chill from the back of her neck right down to her feet. Her mind recognized the need to move, before the demon realized she'd avoided the lunge.

Her need to escape overcame revulsion: The blond girl pressed both hands against the saliva-drenched white wall in front of her, arching her back and wind milling arms to plant her hands in the water. Abdominal muscles strained and hips protested as she tucked her legs in tight to avoid clipping the furred jaw just inches away. The flexible chunin bent her arms to lower her face almost into the water, then flooded biceps with chakra as she kicked her feet forward, towards a gap between the bars.

As her arms tilted her away from the fox, she straightened them as powerfully as she could, a spring pressed down suddenly free to expand. Ino prayed she would pass through the bars, knowing if she hit one of those iron pillars she was dead. Her eyes remained on the kitsune, terrible jaws opening and lunging forward again.

The pain that slapped the blue-eyed youth was overshadowed by heart-gripping terror as her back slammed into unyielding metal, an inch or two to the right of her spine. An instant stretched to an hour as memories filled her thoughts too fast to understand. Relief came as the instant passed into the next, momentum rolling her around the bar and through the gap to the other side.

Stumbling backwards, Ino heard the sweetest music: The cacophony of bone on iron as the bars held back the monster's jaws.

"What the hell!?" Ino began, stopping as she realized her normally lightly teasing voice resembled the squeak of a mouse instead of clearly enunciated words. She cleared her throat, rubbing the base of her long neck to push down the lump she felt.

"**Another meal wasted," **the voice growled before she could attempt her question once more, chuckling as those horribly large teeth smiled in her direction. **"You can't escape though, Yamanaka. Eventually you'll try to get past me. There's no exit down that hallway."**

"How do you know who I am?" Ino wondered, curiosity dominating her wildly churning mood. Whatever was happening... Whatever it was... She was going to beat the living _shit _out of Naruto whenever she managed to get out of this mess.

"**Oh, I know of your clan at least. One of yours tried to use that silly little technique on me as well, but there weren't any bars in the way... She was quite tasty," **the voice chuckled darkly. Realization Ino slapped Ino in the face: Her aunt Irisa died fighting the nine-tailed kitsune all those years ago, she never even got to meet her only seen her pictures. The demon fox's smile widened in his cage as her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

Ino's took a step back out of reflex. She was face to face with the monster which nearly destroyed Konoha. The world-shaking beast the Fourth Hokage his life to defeat.

"**Boo,"** the demon added, grin fading as it realized Ino's attention had wandered.

The present was rudely shoved aside as the events from minutes ago fought their way back to the front of the blond girl's mind, throwing a solid right cross to her sensibilities. Her jaw hung slack and her eyes lost focus as she connected the dots between the two wildly improbable events she now faced: She was talking with one of the most powerful creatures in the world _in Naruto's head!_

It was a moment of terrible clarity which explained the universal aversion to the orphan the entire village displayed. Her own parents had told her to keep away from the solitary child when she'd first started her lessons at the academy. As young as she'd been when she'd heard the stern warning, she never once thought to ask the why, blindly trusting their judgment.

The revelation explained the boy's dozens of idiosyncrasies. Now it was clear how he could keep molding chakra during lessons long after his peers had given up in frustration, their own reserves as dry as the dunes of the Sand Country. His savant-like skill in using the most high-classed, chakra-intensive jutsu now made a terrible kind of sense, it had to be because he somehow could access some of the huge amount of chakra she could feel.

Now that she had calmed down, she could feel that terrible force of chakra from behind those bars. Even killing intent didn't compare to it.

"This is Naruto's mind?" Ino whispered in disbelief, taking in the rusted metal of the young man's mind. No wonder she hadn't recognized the feel of a person's thoughts in this dark, terribly desolate place. Most people visualized their own minds in abstractions that were generally more... peaceful. This had the homey feeling of an abandoned bunker, not like a cottage in the meadow or the beautiful palace which comprised the typical image of a person's mind.

"**Not totally stupid, but not all that smart either,"** The fox grumbled, it's claws again reaching forward to try to grasp the frightened girl through the metal bars which formed it's seal. They dug into the ground, creating an earthquake as the fox dragged them back within the seal. **"Of course you're in his mind. You used that technique of yours, didn't you? This is just an abstraction of his mind which your tiny mortal brain can comprehend. Are you sure you don't want me to eat you? I might be doing you a favor..."**

"No, you can't eat me!" Ino roared, irritation finally overcoming her initial fear of the rumbling beast. A shuriken from her belt pouch was hurled through the bars, though the eyes didn't even blink. Her mind was racing as she considered her options. How the hell was she going to get out of this? She glanced back down the hallway, considering it.

The kitsune said there was no escape. Perhaps he was lying...

"**I wouldn't,"** the monster fox taunted, the chuckling somehow more sinister than any sound she'd ever heard. The great monster's voice dripped dark enjoyment. **"The only thing you'll find down that corridor are his memories."**

"There has to be a way out," Ino muttered to herself, unable to deny the urge to see what made the blond genin tick. She'd been fairly dismissive of Sakura's teammate until recently: Then the boy fought a member of Akatsuki with nothing more than his guts, his chakra, and a desire to prove his worth against a ludicrously dangerous foe, choosing to do so alone instead of with the aid of one of the most experienced ninja in Konoha, plus there had been that rasensuriken thing he has, that had been the most impressive jutsu she had ever seen.

Shikamaru had entered the fight with a plan and a unflinching desire for revenge driving him: What arrogant pride made the blond boy take on one of the most dangerous ninja in the world just to measure his own strength? He hadn't known Asuma especially well, couldn't have had any strong hatred for Kakazu or his partner. Nothing save the man's association with Akatsuki and his trespasses against fellow academy students who hadn't been especially close made him the blond boy's foe.

Ino's felt a desire to walk down the hall in the careful stare she directed down the darkened corridor. There were so many questions she had about him, so many mysteries and she was always too curious about people.

Ino's curiosity could no longer be denied. She'd hadn't really had any contact with Naruto before graduation, except for the casual association granted by their classes together. After she and Sakura had come to terms with their rivalry, after that first chunin exam, she'd occasionally listened to the pink-headed girl's stories, but...

Well... She always embellished the stories of her own missions with Shikamaru and Chouji. It was just that they were really boring, unless she added a few more ninja, each using a few more jutsu then they actually had. Talking about yet another ambush, the majority of their foes decimated by Chouji's powerful taijutsu while Shikamaru held them immobile would have quickly grown stale. Even the occasionally quick or cautious foe who escaped was easy prey for her jutsu.

She listened to Sakura's own tales under the assumption that the green-eyed girl was adding the same sort of embellishment. The recent understanding she'd gained threw her teammate into a whole new light, knowing every word her friend spoke was the simple truth, if not actally understated.

She struggled to resolve the class prankster with the sort of ninja who didn't hesitate for a second to go toe to toe with one of the Sannin for a girl who ignored him and a boy who belittled him... all within months of graduation. The sort of boy who could come up with a plan to free his jounin sensei and allow his team to prevail when, by all rights, they should have been easy pickings for Zabuza's Mizu Bunshins. The sort of young man who would travel non-stop to another country to fight a member of Akatsuki to save the life of a young man who'd tried to kill him.

The chance she had was too unique to pass up. Her feet were slipping through the cold water before she admitted to herself she wanted to know more about the orange-clad genin.

Butterflies churned her stomach as she advanced down the hallway. The inky blackness was frightening enough, and only the cackling of the amused fox allowed her to walk on, spite trumping anxiety. She paused before the first iron door she saw, massive hinges crudely bolted to a frame assembled from scraps of girders. A ring hanging on one side of the door rustily protested being disturbed as she grasped it, pulling the door open with a squeal.

A flood of memories struck her, a solid haymaker to the gut buckling her knees. Her mind reeled, a discordant bouquet of emotions warring for dominance. Anger. Hurt. Apathy so thick Ino's respect for the boy rose, just for the willpower it would have taken to cast it aside.

As her mind struggled, her vision tumbled through a rainstorm of colour, then...

Naruto's eighth birthday. Staring at the wall in a shabby, ill-kept apartment. She shifted only slightly, and then just to offset the gradual ache ever-building from sitting on a lumpy bed. The bed's only companion was a rusted metal dinner tray, decorated with three empty styrofoam cups. Ino was unable to flinch at the way the boy ignored the itch of wet skin from tears he was too detached to wipe away.

A lone visitor taking him to Ichiraku Ramen for a treat, giving the boy a small cupcake and some words of encouragement... it was a glorious sunrise by comparison. The blond girl wondered if Iruka would ever realize just how much those thirty short minutes meant to the orphaned boy that day.

Ino stumbled back from the door, hand recoiling from iron ring as if it was a hot pan, wanting nothing more than to forget the raw hatred the young eight-year-old boy had possessed. Iruka-sensei's visit was the only pause in a silent contemplation of rage. Even now she felt tainted by it, angry with everything around her just from that one memory.

She'd known this much hate only for the pair who'd killed her sensei. To feel it for everything but one person, even peripherally... It staggered her. How could someone walk around with so much hatred bottled up within themselves? The stark contrast with the smiling boy she knew Naruto to be only made the memory that much more repulsive.

She wanted to conjure a lock and seal away the memory forever, make sure it would never haunt her or it's owner again. It was too painful to bear, even as a spectator.

She found another door and in this she saw a familiar image as it was opened, this of Gaara. Only perspective gained from the sight of his furtive, shy smiles whenever he and his siblings had reason to visit softened the hard memories from years ago. Ino still had nightmares of the vacant-eyed youth from her first chunin exam.

The first of Naruto's memories was already an ugly scar she could never erase from her mind. She saw the how Naruto had met Gaara, then of the realization that he and Gaara were two sides of the same coin. The fight with Gaara was incredible, she had heard of it but to actually see it was another thing. But it were those thoughts that ran through his mind at that time, the images of the 'darkness' of his life that he spoke of and the painful ache she could feel associated with it.

Morbid fascination pulled Ino deeper down the iron hallway, searching darkened patches of rust for the next memory. Even the hallway filled the hollow of the girl's neck with a lump: Naruto's mind was the long-abandoned ruin caused by an epic struggle.

She grasped the ring on the second door, opening the memory with a firm, determined yank. Even braced for it, she couldn't stop the tears.

oOo

Naruto breathed a sigh of contentment as he stretched out on his bed, staring up at his ceiling as he let the warmth from the bowls of ramen spread out from his stomach, until even his fingers and toes tingled. Dreams crept around the edges of conscious thought, waiting for him to lower his guard so they could slip to the front of his mind.

Sure, he'd pissed off Ino, he mused... He'd also messed up at asking Sakura on a date and had to put up with Sai's... curiosity about the Sexy no Jutsu. Then again, he'd also gotten the chance to tell Iruka about kicking Kazaku's ass, which resulted in his teacher paying for his first three bowls of Ichikaru.

Any day he got treated to Ichikaru, he concluded, was a good day.

He drifted blissfully into sleep, pulling his black sleeping cap more snugly onto his head as he curled up underneath the blankets.

He found himself drifting between stray thoughts... and then with an abruptness he thought out of place, he was vividly dreaming.

He knew he was dreaming because Ino was crying. Not only that, but he was in front of the stupid fox's cage in his boxers. All the party needed was an older teacher-type spouting strange, inscrutable advice to convince him to never again eat crab ramen before bedtime again.

"What the hell?" Naruto muttered, scuffing his bare foot on the water as he cast his eyes around. Being a dream, he was wearing the same clothes he'd been wearing when he'd fallen asleep... His hat, his boxers, and the blond hair his father (or mother) had given him. He prodded the blond girl on the shoulder. "Oi, what's going on?"

"Naruto! I'm sorry!" As the tall blond girl tackled him, Naruto knew without a doubt he was dreaming. A small part of him insisted it was real, but the various soft parts brushing against him convinced the blue-eyed Hokage-to-be that this was fiction from his subconscious: No way, no how was he this lucky with any girl, let alone Sakura's rival of all people. As if reading his thoughts, the fox chuckled as it watched him. Ino paused, sniffling as glistening grey eyes met blue. "I should have been nicer! I didn't know!"

"Er, it's okay?" Naruto tried, without much success. He gingerly patted the girl on the back, torn between the twin urges to throw his arms around and give her a firm hug and trying to crawl away. This dream was getting REALLY weird. Normally his dreams were only sort of strange. Hell, if the blond was a pinkette and he wasn't being watched by the creepy fox, it would have resembled one of his normal dreams.

He shrugged. What the hell, it was just a dream. He hugged Ino, patting her on the head. "Don't cry, Ino! Nothing's worth getting this upset over!"

"Always cheerful, just like Iruka taught you," Ino sniffled, pulling back and looking up at Naruto with the softest grey eyes he'd ever seen on the girl. That pretty much settled it for him: Nobody knew about his conversations with Iruka, not even Sakura or Sasuke... and the thought of Soft or Kind being used in the same sentence with Yamanaka Ino, especially in regards to him? It had to be a dream. "Naruto, I've been really mean to you... Do you forgive me?"

"Of course!" Naruto promised, thinking that this dream wasn't so bad after all. Now that he had a moment to consider it without being yelled at, Sakura's rival was fairly pretty in her own way. He recalled the way both girls had fawned over Sasuke and figured it was something with his subconscious mind trying to overcome Sasuke in every way possible. He resolved to give his subconscious mind a kick in the ass and anywhere else he could reach at the next opportunity. "Don't worry about it, Ino. I'll even treat you nicer after this dream is over!"

"Dream?" Ino seemed to scowl for a moment and then she smiled. The devious look on her face gave Naruto pause, though rational thought fled as the girl, still hugging him tightly, took a deep breath. "Yeah, this dream! When this dream is over, I might even treat you nicer, too!"

"This is my dream, not yours," Naruto groused, finally letting her go and taking a look around. It didn't feel like a normal dream, either. He grinned at her. "It's not like you're going to even know about any of this when I wake up. You're just a figment of my imagination."

"Well, I want out," Ino admitted, her head bowing forward as she sidled up to Naruto. He blushed as he felt... parts... brushing against his bare chest. She latched onto his arm. "But it looks like the only way I can get out is if that monster fox lets me. Make him let me go, will you?"

"Sure," Naruto promised. It was just a dream, after all. He marched right up to the bars of the cage, poking his finger into the darkness. "Oi, stupid fox! Let Ino go so I can get back to sleep!"

"**Make me,"** the fox growled, annoyed. It didn't need this. Nations coward at it's feet and some upstart punk was always giving it orders.

Naruto grinned.

"Rasengan!" Naruto roared, feeling the familiar drain on his chakra. Funny... He didn't usually feel a drain when he performed jutsus in his dreams. Then again, this dream was kind of weird anyway. He held the jutsu swirling in his hand in front of himself. "Don't make me come in there!"

The nine-tailed kitsune frowned at the swirling mass of chakra. It couldn't hurt him after all this was just an image of his mind, but if they did fight and if he accidentally killed his jailer, and that was a possibility, that wouldn't be good because then he would die.

Of course, the idiot thought it was all a dream. He thought he was just being the typical hero without knowing just how close to death he was coming. Then again, with how close the moron trodded to death every time he gleefully threw himself into battle, the idiot's danger sense was probably as well-balanced as a vase in an earthquake.

The fox relented, pulling back his chakra and allowing the Yamanaka to release the seal from where she stood. Without the demonic pull of his chakra, she was able to release the technique with ease. The stupid blond who was his jailer wasn't even competent enough to realize as the girl faded from his mind, her soul dispersing through the air to return to her body.

Naruto grinned as he allowed the technique to dissipate. It had been a weird dream.

Right now it didn't matter because he wanted to swim in a lake of ramen.

oOo

Ino breathed a breath of air, writhing as she felt herself once more in her own body. She was free! She'd escaped the nine-tailed kitsune! She was once more back in her own body! She was alive! She- Ino sniffed, realizing she smelt like garbage.

Pulling herself from the dumpster, Ino smiled as she thought of a blond boy.

She'd misjudged him.

She'd thought he was nothing more than a loser, a failure not worthy of her attention. Just looking through his memories she'd seen fights that had left a lasting impression on her.

A small part of her shuddered at the reckless courage it would take to fight Orochimaru not once, but twice... both times knowing full well he might die. When ninja dared talk about Orochimaru to her generation it was in a whisper, as if the mention of his name would bring him back. That Naruto would charge into battle with him for the sake of his comrades, when even jounin would run, was a resolute monument to his character.

The blond boy was a ninja worth watching.

Thinking of her sensei's last words to her, she grinned. Sakura might not know the prize she had following in her footsteps, but Ino would claim it. She wouldn't lose to Sakura in love. Not when the prize was so worth catching.

Not when the prize would be the next Hokage.

**Next up chapter 2: Ino's new crush**


	2. Ino's New Crush

**Unforeseen Consequences**

**Chapter 2: Ino's New Crush**

Ino awoke to a fresh new day, stretching as she got out of bed and banished the last bits of sleep from her thoughts. Her mind, normally focused on her plans for the day, wandered aimlessly as she went through her morning routine, brushing her hair and putting on the earrings Asuma-sensei had given her for making chunin rank.

As she slipped into her day clothes, she resolved to right a wrong she'd been unconsciously committing since the early days of the academy.

Ino was not one to admit she was wrong. Not often, at least not in her mind. The few times that she admitted to being wrong, it was either in battle or inconsequential. In battle if you were wrong you had moments to correct it or you were dead. Admitting you'd messed up just wasted time, so she'd spent those moments correcting her error and wrestling victory from her foes.

To think she'd misjudged someone... not just someone she'd known briefly, but someone she had known, in theory, for years... it was just galling.

For the longest time, she'd thought there were only a few people who'd qualified as dating material from the pool of ninja in her age group. Among those few, none had been available: Sasuke had been too distant and emotionally detached no matter how hard she had tried with him before he left. During those years Naruto had been gone, she once approached Neji. After all he wasn't as bad as Sasuke and was just as good looking. But he had proven to be too cool of an individual plus she had a theory that Tenten had her eyes on him. Not interested in getting between that she moved on. Even Sakura's new teammate Sai, while nice enough and thoroughly cute, ultimately proved himself a little too weird for her tastes as she got to know him.

For the longest time she'd despaired of ever finding good boyfriend material. When her desperation had caused her eyes to turn briefly to her own teammates, Temari had very subtly bared her teeth and made her claim on Shikamaru quite clear when she tried something with the Suna ninja had been with Shikamaru. Even if the Nara heir didn't realize it yet, he was as good as married. It was only a matter of time before the blond sand kunoichi sprung her trap... and she was nearly as devious as the lazy boy himself.

Choji was... well, Choji. Too much the little brother. She'd set him up with enough of her friends that dating him would have felt weird. Not to mention that he was a little too meaty for her tastes.

Of course she'd dismissed Naruto, practically from the moment she'd met him. To be fair she was just one of the many girls who had. Throughout the entire course of the academy Naruto had been the worst student, overall. He'd only ever been a touch better than adequate at taijutsu and ninja tool use and was dead last in ninjutsu, genjutsu, and a multitude of written work. He was the class clown, spending more time and effort on jokes than on his schoolwork.

Even Sakura, the young man's teammate, had dismissed him for the longest time. Ino couldn't recall Sakura mentioning the boy with praise without adding how far behind Sasuke he stood. Even after his two and a half year absence, Sakura's praise for the blond boy was sparsely given, though it had become qualified by circumstance less and less with each day.

Then again, Ino had learned a lot from her brief jaunt through his mind. Though many memories were too old or too fractured to get more than a brief impression of the events and others were hazy visions seen through dense fog, she'd seen everything from the boy's own eyes, unembellished by his ego or underplayed by his teammates.

Seeing was enough. She was impressed, beyond impressed even.

Although it was widely known that Naruto had been the one to beat Gaara, she had actually seen what had happened. It disproved a popular theory about what she had thought had happened when Sasuke had chased the sand-nin from the stadium. As she thought how it happened, Sasuke had chased Gaara and his siblings from the stadium. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sakura followed as support, during which Shikamaru dropped back to foil the pursuit. When Naruto and Sakura caught up, they neutralized Gaara's sister while she thought that Sasuke had played a much bigger part.

That was what she had believed. It was the only explanation that made any sense at the time. Then she'd seen Naruto save Sasuke and Sakura from death at the hands of the sand-ninja and match the terribly powerful youth blow for blow. Even seeing it from the blond's eyes she was hard-pressed to resolve the resolute youth with the Naruto she knew.

Any time she'd seen Naruto create hundreds shadow clones it sent a shiver through her at the thought of the chakra expenditure it would take. She'd experimented with the shadow clones once and trying to create a few dozen had given her a whole new respect for Naruto, even years ago. That his fight with Neji was the gentle foothills and not the sky-obscuring peak of his ability was mind-boggling. Her limit was perhaps a dozen: Beyond that, her clones would lack the chakra to move, let alone fight effectively.

Then there were his more fantastical fights. The ones Sakura had never even hinted at, the ones he had never boasted of himself: His fights with Orochimaru; with Kabuto; with other foes she would have been frightened to consider fighting with her team at her side, never mind alone. She was sure that if she lived to serve Konoha for another century, she would not face half as many desperate battles as the blond boy had already seen.

The thought that Tsunade of all people had been forced to rely on Naruto to protect her, however briefly, was supremely shocking. The Hokage was supposed to be an infallibly strong ninja, an example for all other ninja in the village to use as a model for improvement. The Hokage wasn't supposed to be a terrified woman relying on a genin to protect her. It went a long way towards explaining the Fifth Hokage's unwavering confidence in the young man.

She had even seen the second fight with Orochimaru on the bridge, although she hadn't seen all of it as pieces were missing. The length he went to made her worry about him, he was willing to go to those lengths to fulfill a promise he made years ago. Even going after Gaara's body just to even get it back from that blonde guy with the explosive clay. She knew now why Naruto felt such a strong bond with Gaara as well.

She could finally admit to herself that she'd misjudged the boy _very _badly.

Having dismissed Naruto before, she'd missed the signs which were so obvious to her, now. She was astonished she could have missed them, as loud and obvious as they were.

He exuded a warm confidence she'd dismissed as brash arrogance. She had never before considered that his firm belief in his ability to defeat almost any foe could be a genuine belief. After a myriad of fights scattered across dozens of countries, it was a chilling realization to find that the only time the blond ninja had ever backed down from any ninja was for the safety of his comrades, not himself.

She'd thought he was just trying to fit in by saying that he'd fight for those he believed in... she hadn't believed that anyone could have such a big heart. She'd thought the orange-clad genin knew Hinata far better than he actually did, for all his passion in confronting Neji during that eventful first chunin exam. That his standing up for her and fighting Neji because of what the boy had done just because Naruto thought it was wrong. He apparently had no idea of Hinata's crush on the boy. Ino had seen it and knew it for what it was, it was too bad the girl had always been too shy.

It was a mistake that Ino wouldn't make, she wouldn't pass up the chance.

Now she knew, having seen just how eager he was to put a Will of Fire behind his often-dismissed promises of friendship. She knew that if it came down to standing between an army and a friend, Naruto would stand in front of that army with a cocky grin. He would do so without giving the matter a second thought... or even a first one. He would charge into that army with nothing more than a disbelief that anyone would have the brazen temerity to actually stand in his way, as if their defeat was a certainty.

She started to see him in a new light now, on the inside he was warm, had the biggest heart in the world. Sure he had faults but looking at them now, she found them somewhat cute. Plus he had grown up in this time away. He was taller than her now, plus with all the baby fat gone he looked so much more handsome now. Her mind made up, it was time to get things into action.

She slipped into the kitchen, returning her father's grin with one of her own as she opened the door separating her mother's shop from the family home. Her mother's raised eyebrow was studiously ignored as Ino grabbed three specific blooms and slipped outside.

She had new prey to catch.

oOo

Ino's first order of business was her rival, Sakura.

She was almost willing to pursue Naruto regardless of their friendship, given what she'd learned during the eventful evening she'd had just last night. She was honest enough with herself to admit she'd much prefer to clear things with the girl first and find out where the pink-haired girl stood with the blond genin. If they were just friends, so much the better: Losing Sakura once had been painful enough, she didn't want to repeat mistakes of the past.

That haunting fear was the reason Ino found herself drifting into the Konoha hospital.

While she was a fully trained medic-nin, she was by no means on the same level as the pinkette she was searching for. Ino had only passed the basic courses not the more advanced ones. She was adequate as a medical ninja, good enough to heal wounds in the middle of combat. She was not good enough to warrant pulling duty at the hospital while not on a mission.

Passing half-exhausted medics as she wound through the halls, Ino mused that perhaps, mastery of a skill wasn't everything. Every medic-nin she passed seemed to have become trapped by their skill: Their time for practice of Taijutsu or other Ninjutsu seemed to wane as the demands on their skill in healing increased, turning what was once merely a specialty into the exclusive use of their talents. Then again Sakura was the exception as her physical combat skills were above hers in ways she couldn't hope to get close to.

She sighed at that point, she remembered when she used to be stronger, then they tied at the chunin exams, now Sakura seemed to be getting farther and farther ahead of her. Sure Ino could have trained more, it was her own fault but now she made a note not to fall any further behind. Starting with her love life and going on from there.

It didn't take her long to find her friend, eyes closed in uncharacteristic serenity as she paused for a brief moment over tea in the break room in between checking on her patients. Her green eyes opened as Ino stepped lightly into the room.

"Ino?" Sakura was surprised, Ino noted, and with good reason. Ino rarely showed up at the hospital to visit, preferring to see Sakura during her off-hours.

"Hi, Sakura," Ino said, pouring herself some tea from the staff kettle. She sat down on a nearby bench, suddenly nervous as she searched for words. While this was Sakura of all people, Ino knew that bubble gum-haired girl held a definite advantage with Naruto. Not only was she the girl Naruto had been crushing on for the last four years, but she was his teammate. She'd been there for him during the roughest of times, shared in some of his most desperate battles.

This was a girl Naruto had fought earth-shaking battles for, the girl Naruto for whom had faced Orochimaru without a trace of hesitation. A girl who could have the blond boy's heart for nothing more than the effort of voicing the request. For a moment she wavered in thinking she might have a chance but it soon passed. She wouldn't run from any challenge anymore.

"What's up, Ino?" Sakura finally asked, seeming to grow impatient. Ino remembered the girl was on duty. The break Ino was interrupting was probably scheduled to end in a handful of minutes.

"I had an encounter with Naruto yesterday," Ino finally said, tossing aside her worries plunging forward. While she didn't want to spill everything to her friend, she needed to at least get on to the topic quickly. "Has he always been so... open?"

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, blinking. She idly sipped her tea as she thought. "Well, I suppose he has. It's kind of hard to take him seriously sometimes, but he's... consistent. Steady. He's childish a lot of the time, but he always pulls through in the end."

"So you trust him?" Ino pushed, wanting to know more. She didn't want to tip her hand, and was thankful Sakura was too distracted by the questions to push deeper into Ino's motives.

"Of course, he's my best male friend after all," Sakura finally answered, and Ino breathed an inner sigh of relief. Male friend that was not someone you dated. She was in the clear, at least for now. Sakura grinned to herself, giving Ino the impression she was being ignored as those green eyes wandered somewhere distant, adding, "But then sometimes he seems so strong, so sure of himself. Other times, he's almost fragile. "

Sakura frowned a bit remembering how she had learned his terrible secret. How he contained the Nine Tails after that battle on the bridge. To see him all burned up like that had been horrible, he didn't remember hurting her and she would never tell him that. She hadn't talked with Naruto about that day, she wanted him to come to her when he was ready.

Then as she thought about him more other things came to Sakura's mind. "And when he needs to be, he's... well... I guess you could say that his fight with Kakazu was just another day. He keeps surprising me all the time with how strong he becomes. And he has matured more than when he was little, at least a bit more."

"I see," Ino paused, now unsure. Sakura's words weren't quite the words she would have been using if she just thought of Naruto as a teammate and a friend. Sakura was sending two very different messages. If she was thinking of the blond boy as more than a just a friend...

"Damn, I've got to go, Ino," Sakura muttered as she glanced at the clock, finishing the rest of her tea in quick gulp and standing. She glanced back at Ino. "Look, I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Sure," Ino said, standing and finishing her own tea as well. Sakura might welcome her presence, but she doubted the medical staff wanted her hanging around. She left the hospital, two different sections of her mind at war, now. She shook it off... It might not even matter in the first place.

She had to go see the blond boy. She would make things clear. Even if his heart was Sakura's for the taking, perhaps he wasn't willing to wait for the girl to clear the sand from her eyes and realize just what she had in her grasp.

oOo

Naruto grimaced, sweat beading on his brow. He had to make a choice.

Pink was his favorite and had been for a number of years... Truly, the love of his life. But that golden yellow was so inviting, so tempting... He was torn. Did he maintain his faith to his love or give in to the golden temptation that stood right in front of him?

Pink or golden yellow? How could someone even _make _that choice?

It was absurd to think he had to choose. He'd simply have both. That would solve his dilemma quite easily. He would start with the pink and then the golden yellow would finish him off. That would solve things best for all involved. He could keep his faith and try the tempting new vision, now flipping his perception and inverting his sensibilities.

So decided, Naruto tore open the seal on both the pink and yellow ramen package as he prepared his breakfast. Beef would taste better with chicken, anyway and he usually ate more ramen than most people anyway.

Naruto patted his stomach after he had finished his meal. He leaned back at his dining room table, completely stuffed thanks to the double serving of Ramen. He cocked his head as a chill ran down his spine, as if he were being hunted. The blond usually trusted his instincts, so he decided he'd leave early to train.

He had a promise to keep, and nothing to be gained by lounging around his home. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to start his trek early, scout out the venue for the upcoming match and confirm that there were no hidden surprises.

It couldn't hurt.

oOo

Ino tracked her prey to training ground eight and paused as she saw Naruto standing across the field from Neji, a determined look on both their faces. They didn't smile, didn't joke. The Hyuga simply dropped into his Gentle Fist stance as Naruto charged with a loud cry, closing the distance to throw punches and kicks with the reckless taijutsu that was the orange-clad youth's trademark.

Ino watched in mute horror, powerless to stop the fight as it ramped up. Naruto used his kage bunshins to throw the jonin off guard as the duo attempted to pummel one another other, vicious scowls on their faces as they ripped into one another with a frenzy Ino hadn't seen since the two boys had clashed in the chunin exam three years ago.

Deadly chakra flashed and puffs of smoke exploded as the clones swarming Neji burst in a cloud of wasted chakra. Though clearly doing noticeable damage to his foe's chakra reserves, the Hyuga boy was being forced back as Naruto and his remaining clones pressed the advantage.

Two Narutos dropped low to the ground, kicking their legs out to rob Neji of his footing as a third Naruto slugged the long-haired jonin with a solid right cross which elicited a grunt of pain. That quickly transformed into a smirk of victory as one of the white-eyed boy's legs touched the ground, allowing him to torque his body into a deadly spin of released chakra: Kaiten, the ultimate defensive technique of the Hyuga clan.

Naruto tumbled through the air, twisting and landing on his feet as his less fortunate clones hit the dirt and exploded from the impact. The blond grinned as he formed a seal, summoning more clones to his aid.

"Clones, clones... Is that all you're capable of, Naruto?" Neji taunted, plucking a pair of kunai from his ninja tool pouch and hurling them towards the small army amassed in front of him. He was unsurprised to see his two targets vanish in a puff of smoke.

"Who needs more to deal with you?" All of the Narutos demanded at once, an identical grin coming to their faces at exactly the same time. The closest blond pointed one finger at his foe. "I didn't need to use anything else to beat you, before!"

"Arrogant," Neji muttered, charging into the mass of clones with a grin.

Ino sat in the tree, trying not to blink as the two ninja, genin and jonin, clashed. Neither seemed capable of gaining a significant advantage... Neji was able to nullify the most devastating of Naruto's attacks, while the blond ninja seemed to possess the superhuman ability to replace lost clones at whim, ignoring the potentially crippling chakra cost without a heavy breath.

It was a deadly balance. Ino watched in horror as blood sprayed from Naruto's back, followed by Neji's hand as it pierced the boy's body. Sheer force had killed Naruto over and over again, before the body would inevitably puff into smoke and Ino could breathe a brief sigh of relief. The battle had been going on and on in this fashion for nearly forty minutes.

There was only one Naruto left. Neji closed, readying his hand. Naruto fought valiantly, twisting and turning out of the way, attempting his own counter-blow against his jonin foe. None of Naruto's blows found their mark, but Neji struck true with a sharp blow which cleanly caught Naruto's throat, causing the young blond to drop to his knees and cough as he vomited blood.

Neji had killed Naruto.

As Ino prepared to use her own jutsu to capture Neji, Naruto poofed out of existence as the sound of clapping filled the clearing. Neji smiled and turned to the source of the clapping as Naruto dropped from a nearby tree branch.

"Good job, Neji! You managed to kill five hundred clones in under an hour!" Naruto's voice was jovial, and he wore a broad grin as he walked over towards his friend.

"Naruto... Only you would call that an accomplishment," Neji grinned, shaking the younger man's hand. He shook his head. "I seem to recall defeating dozens of your shadow clones in under a minute during the chunin exam."

"Yeah, yeah... So why did you need my help training anyway? Isn't that what Lee and Tenten are for?" Naruto asked, scratching his chin.

"Well, I can't use the Gentle Fist on them, idiot. Not like I can against you. You're the only ninja I know with enough chakra to pose a good challenge after using kage bunshins," Neji smiled, cocking his head. "I think it's time I go now, though. I think Ino wants to talk to you."

Ino started, surprised at being detected. Then she remembered the Hyuga family's bloodline limit let them see nearly everything around them and also remembered that Neji had a ridiculously large range for his. He'd probably been keeping an eye on her since the fight started. She hopped down from the tree branch where she'd thought she was concealed and walked into the clearing.

"Take care, Neji" Naruto said, clapping the jonin on the shoulder. As the Hyuga walked away, Naruto pointed a finger at him. "And don't think this means you can beat me in a fight, now! That first shadow clone only had half my chakra!"

The older boy only raised his hand in a wave, not looking back. Then again, it's not like he needed to look back to see the grin on Naruto's face.

"So Ino... Why are you here? Does the Hokage need to see me?" Naruto pondered, his eyes squinting and his mouth pouting as he cocked his head to the side. Ino suddenly remembered why she'd misjudged Naruto... the look on his face was completely devoid of thought.

"No, Naruto. I was just wondering something..." Indecision seized Ino in a vice grip. She'd never bothered to ask anyone on a date, ever. That simply wasn't the way it worked. Guys asked her for a date, and then she considered it. Asking a guy out herself was... unprecedented. She might flirt with them, imply she wanted a date, but she never asked.

"Wondering what?" Naruto's face was still tilted, his expression unchanging. It showed nothing of the Naruto Ino had seen in his memories. Nothing of the boy smart enough to fool a jonin ninja in a mission to the Land of Waves, smart enough to fool Neji, smart enough to fool dozens of other opponents. It was absolutely maddening.

"Well, Team 10 and I feel kind of bad that you were tricked into paying for our dinner like you did," Ino charged forward, her goal in sight. She put on her best smile. "So we want to treat you to dinner to make up for it."

"Oh, okay!" Oblivious, Ino's target agreed. She smiled to herself.

"Great! We'll see you at seven at Amaguri, okay?" Ino asked, wincing slightly to herself. Amaguri was a relatively expensive restaurant, not the sort of place her teammates would normally frequent. Of course, it would be easier to convince them to come up with excuses not to come that way. Ino's wince turned to a smile.

"Sure," Naruto said, confused. Sure, he'd treated them to dinner once, but it hadn't been _that _expensive, even with Choji. It wasn't really that big a deal, especially compared to how much Asuma-sensei's teachings had advanced him along the path to his new jutsu.

Ino disappeared almost in a flash, hurrying home to make preparations for tonight's dinner.

Behind her, she left a very confused Naruto.

**Next up chapter 3: Backfire**


	3. Backfire

**Unforeseen Consequences**

**Chapter 3: Backfire**

Mere hours after a bloody battle with Neji, Naruto found himself faced with a far more daunting challenge: searching for acceptable clothing for the gathering with Team Ten at a fancy restaurant the blond never would have set foot in normally. After Ino had asked him along he had ran into Sakura and told her that Team 10 was going to take out Team 7. Sakura was surprised but said she would track down Sai, while Naruto took a shower. He was after all a bit dirty and sweaty from that training.

Of course he hadn't known that Ino had only meant to ask him not his team, he thought since all of Team 10 was going all his team was as well, it made sense to him at least.

Naruto knew enough about the Amaguri that he knew he needed to dress properly. Opting for a simple, vibrantly red Water-country shirt he'd picked up while journeying with Jiraiya, Naruto nervously did up the golden-colored ties which served as the front of the shirt before pulling a pair of loose black slacks from his wardrobe. He tied the pants off at his ankles using the plain black ties, standing up to take in the effect. With the black slippers, it wasn't too bad. In fact... he looked kinda dashing. Like the hero in a martial arts story he'd once read as a kid.

He smiled at the overall effect. Aside from his unruly blond hair, an ever-defiant mass which refused to bend before the tyranny of either comb or brush, he looked every part the gentleman. With a lovely lady at his side he'd even pass for good company. The blond boy fiddled with the stiff cuffs of the shirt, playing with the golden-hued pegs.

Glancing in the mirror a second time, he was tempted to find something a little less refined, now that he thought about it. Perhaps he was over-dressed. He didn't want to look like an idiot if Shikamaru showed up in a chunin vest. Then again, the lazy bastard managed to look cool in the outfit: Naruto dreaded the day he'd wear it.

Naruto's meandering thoughts were interrupted by a knock at his apartment door. The lovely lady who would give the rest of Konoha the illusion that he was socially passable.

"Sorry, Naruto. Sai had something to do and couldn't make it tonight. So I guess it's just going to be the two of us with Team 10 for dinner tonight," Sakura smiled weakly, apologetic. Naruto waved off her concerns, instead focusing on the enchanting effect her refined blue dress had on her figure. It was demure, without making her look old. The blue was even a light enough shade not to clash with the pink of her hair, currently combed and curled out at the ends in a rare defiance of her vow to stop caring for her looks in preference to caring for her ninjutsu.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan," Naruto said with a smile. He stepped out of his apartment, locking the door behind him with a click. Pocketing his keys, he smiled at the pinkette. "Even if the six is reduced to five, it's fine."

"But, does Ino know you've invited your team with you to dinner?" Sakura asked, her eyes wide. Ino had offered to pay for Naruto, not the rest of his team. Some unconscious part of the green-eyed girl told her that the invitation hadn't been meant for herself or Sai. Some other part yelled defiance at the first, certain coming was a good idea.

"It's my treat tonight, Sakura," Naruto grinned, patting the deep pockets of his black pants. The welcome bulge of Gamachan rested comfortably in the pocket, waiting to be spent. Kakazu had had quite the bounty on his own head. When he got back and Tsunade had presented him with the cash, he had been surprised. It was a nice bonus besides helping to avenge Asuma, he didn't know him as well as Team 10 but he had liked him.

"Dinner tonight for you is my treat. I'm just happy that our two teams can sit down for a nice dinner and relax!" He told her smiling brightly.

oOo

Having disposed of Choji and Shikamaru for the night, Ino made her way to Amaguri with a broad smile on her face. She had told them that she had plans for the night which was fine with them. Choji was working on some family jutsu training. Ever since Asuma died he had been pushing himself a bit more lately. Shikamaru had just shrugged it off, saying it was fine with him. She knew that he would be too lazy to really care and was most likely just going to play Shogi with his dad or something.

The plan was really simple. By showing up by herself, she could just claim that Shikamaru and Choji had had other plans, which they did but might have dropped them if she told them the truth. So now she would be left alone with Naruto for the evening and would be able to work her charms on him with ease.

It was the perfect plan.

She couldn't know it, but walking towards Amaguri, both Naruto and Sakura sneezed.

oOo

Ino waited for her meal to arrive, glaring at her rival. The pink-haired girl, dressed in a totally gaudy, unflattering blue dress –at least in her opinion- sat across the small table from her. The way the golden threading of the dress was shaped, it was meant to look classy while drawing attention to the wearer's bust. Why did Naruto have to invite _her_ along? Why the hell would she even come along? She sipped her tea as she considered the evil blue-clad creature, who was giving her a smug look in turn. She knew, of course. The small smile on her face was trying to be coy about it but Sakura's entire posture screamed personal satisfaction.

Sakura sipped her ice-water as she idly tapped her fingers on the table, trying to smother the grin fighting it's way to her face. So _that's _how it was. While she was pissed off that this blond hussy would try to move in on _her_ teammate under her nose, she was greatly satisfied that she'd been lucky enough to be invited along. She knew the story about Choji and Shikamaru cancelling last minute was a lie. It was the lamest excuse to get him alone! Who did that girl think she was? Especially wearing such a skanky black dress! The low-cut neckline plunged dangerously, loosely covered by translucent silk. The high cut of her dress, mid-thigh, was likewise rendered decent only by the stockings! It was like she wasn't wearing anything at all! A more conservative dress like her own was far classier, the green-eyed girl concluded.

"They sure are taking their time with our food," Naruto commented from his position to Ino's right and Sakura's left, idly looking around the swanky restaurant, oblivious to the silent exchange taking place right in front of him. The focus of his attention was on the gnawing hunger in his belly and the pressure slightly below that.

"Sakura, how was work? You're looking tired tonight," Ino mentioned, smiling at the barb. Subtle enough to pass unnoticed beneath the blond boy's eyes, yet still cut the blue-garbed medic-nin: Sakura's eyes were strained, her lower eyelids ever so slightly dark from too many late nights at the hospital. Completely unlike her own well-rested eyes, unmarred by lack of sleep.

"I'm fine, Ino. Though you like you've seen a little too much sun," Sakura grinned, revelling in her own alabaster skin when compared to Ino's almost orange hue. Working in the hospital like she did, she was able to maintain a nice, pale complexion, allowing her pale hair to complement her pale skin. Ino's own sun-darkened hue clashed with her hair.

"Oh, no... This is just the result of going on too many missions recently. Oh, that's right, Sakura... You're so busy at the hospital you don't really get too many missions these days, do you?" Ino switched tactics, throwing her foe's lack of experience in her face. Naruto still wasn't paying attention, so she knew she could up her game. She paused, almost in thought. "How is your practice going? Have you learned any new jutsu?"

"I've learned plenty, Ino. After all... I'm the primary apprentice of the Hokage herself, remember? She's been taking the time to teach me _everything _she knows," Sakura added with a smirk. Ino wouldn't get her based on that. Being the Hokage's apprentice, she had certain advantages. Like learning ninjutsu tricks so obscure most jonin didn't know as much as she did.

"Hey, I'll be right back," Naruto stated, standing up and stretching before heading towards the washroom. Both girls watched him briefly, waiting until he was out of hearing before they turned back to openly glare at one another, abandoning the loosely-veiled facade of civility.

"All right Ino, what's the deal?" Sakura demanded, crossing her arms as she stared across the table at her friend. She gestured at Naruto's empty seat. "Why are you dragging him out for a date without even telling him what it is?"

"Jealous?" Ino retorted, leaning back in her chair and sipping her tea. She stopped glaring, her eyes gazing towards Naruto's chair with a fond look which surprised Sakura. The green-eyed girl's hostility wavered. "Look, Sakura... I tried to play a prank on Naruto. It backfired. I know... well, everything."

"Everything?" Sakura asked, taken aback. Not many people their age knew much about Naruto, especially the Kyuubi. She'd only learned about the nine-tailed demon a couple months previously and she was the Hokage's apprentice and the boy's teammate. She paused, searching carefully for the proper words. Maybe the blond girl was bluffing. "So you even know about Naruto's little problem?"

"You mean the Kyuubi?" Ino asked quietly, causing Sakura to gasp. The blond smiled to herself, satisfied that she'd surprised Sakura. The blond leaned forward, lowering her voice to just a whisper: She had to convince the girl that she was sincere, at least. "I tried to use Shintenshin no Jutsu on Naruto yesterday, Sakura. I got trapped in Naruto's mind and that monster inside him nearly killed me."

She had never seen the actual demon, but Sakura did remember the four tailed state Naruto had forced himself to go into. If that was less than half of the power of the Fox unleashed she couldn't being to imagine what Ino had seen and been through.

"What happened-" Sakura began, then stopped, leaning back speculatively. Naruto happened, obviously. Which meant... "What does Naruto think of this?"

"He doesn't know. He thought it was all a dream," Ino replied, waving a hand negligently. She paused, for a moment with a sigh. "Look, Sakura... I'm not messing with him. I'm not going to play with his heart or anything. I know exactly what I'm getting into with him."

"Yeah, but-" Sakura began, stopping as Ino's eyes flickered past her shoulder. Naruto returned to his seat, a wide smile on his face. Ever clueless to his surroundings, the pinkette mused that Naruto wouldn't notice anything if it wasn't trying to kill him, teach him powerful jutsu, or flavoured with ramen.

"Dinner's still not here? Man, they're slow," Naruto crossed his arms as his eyes swept across the restaurant, searching for their server. It had been a whole ten minutes since they'd placed their order!

"Now now, Naruto... It isn't like they're serving Ramen here," Sakura chided, her smile not quite reaching her eyes. Her eyes flickered back to Ino's face, and she was forced to hide her surprise when she saw that her friend's attention was on Naruto. As if they hadn't been talking seriously just a moment ago. Over Ino's shoulder, she saw dinner approaching. "Besides, it looks like it's done."

"Finally!" Naruto cheered, eagerly eyeing the food. As the blond boy dug into his meal, Ino's eyes met Sakura's over the flower arrangement in the center of the table. This wasn't over. Not yet. They turned their attention to their own meals.

oOo

Naruto yawned loudly as he, Ino, and Sakura walked along the side-streets and back alleys of Konoha as they made their way home. While this might sound dangerous to the average person, Konoha had a remarkably low crime rate: Konoha's various ninja residents having a remarkably low tolerance for, and a judiciously high ability to deal with, the occasional back-alley thug who tried to set up shop.

Such men were convinced to move on and forget they'd ever thought of staying in the first place. The spirited points made by the ninja rebuking them even meant that sometimes they were able to move on under their own power instead of being slung across the shoulders of an ANBU ninja.

Sakura and Ino exchanged a look as they walked, evaluating one another as they considered dinner. After the food had arrived, Naruto hadn't left the table, leaving them to spar with nothing more than veiled words and innuendo. They hadn't been able to discuss anything of substance.

Naruto was, of course, oblivious to everything.

They paused in front of the Yamanaka flower shop and Ino hesitated.

"Well, thanks for dinner, Ino-chan!" Naruto stated, smiling as he faced the blond girl. Sakura started at the implied connection in the form of address. Seeing Sakura's reaction, Ino grinned and snagged Naruto in a hug. "Eh, Ino-chan?"

"I just wanted to thank you for coming, Naruto! And thanks for bringing Sakura along, too! It would have been weird with just the two of us!" Ino hauled the grin back to a small smile as she pulled away from the hug, cheering internally at the shell-shocked look on the blond boy's face. She knew she was sending a bit of a mixed message: She knew she had to take it a little slower than normal. The poor boy didn't react well to certain forms of change. If Sakura's story about the mission in Demon Country was true, he was pretty clueless when it came to women.

"Yeah, almost like a date," Sakura edged in, her voice low and even. The green-eyed girl bored twin holes in the blond boy's back. _Hint hint, idiot!_

"No way, me and Ino-chan?" Naruto chuckled, turning to look at his teammate, and thus missing Ino sticking out her tongue at the pink-haired girl. He shook his head, turning back to the other blond in their trio. "That's just crazy!"

Ino winched at that, that was pretty harsh thing to say to a girl. Okay sure he didn't know how she felt but still, ouch.

"Yeah, you're right. That is crazy," Sakura said, taking advantage of Naruto's turned back to lash back with a grin of her own at her old friend. The blue-eyed girl's smile barely changed, just a slight tightening of the eyes. "Goodnight, Ino."

"Goodnight, Sakura," Ino replied, entering the flower shop and closing the door behind her. As tempting as it was to follow the pair as Naruto walked Sakura to her house, the blond girl knew she'd already pressed her luck enough for one night.

oOo

"That would have been funny though, eh?" Naruto pondered after a moment, walking in companionable silence with Sakura to her house. While it wasn't on the way, strictly speaking, it wasn't in the opposite direction, either.

"What?" Sakura asked, her train of thought derailed by Naruto's sudden question.

"Ino and me on a date: That would have been funny, right?" Naruto repeated, scratching his chin and glancing up at the stars above. He continued, not noticing the emotionless mask his companion's face was becoming at the sight of his small smile. "I mean, why would a girl like Ino date a guy like me?"

Sakura saw the smile on his face but lately she had noticed when he was forcing those smiles out. Is that was he really thought, that no woman would want to date him? Thinking back that she was the only girl he had asked out and all the rejections made her feel really bad at the moment. Of course she had agreed to one when he first got back, but it hadn't been anything special. Was it because of all those rejections she had given him that made him think no woman would want him? Or was he afraid no one would accept him with a demon inside of him?

Sakura's face turned slightly sad at the thought of Naruto all alone, she knew he had been like that as a kid. But she had been too consumed like all the girls with Sasuke to really take notice of anyone else.

Looking back, Naruto had changed a lot since he was a child. He was more mature and yet kept his child like abilities. He was sweet and kind, he was also a lot stronger than you'd expect. He knew the rasengan and also completed it, something the Fourth could never do. He always was surprising and he was never boring. The truth is, lately she had been thinking differently about him, maybe she had matured as well since his time away.

"Naruto you shouldn't think that." She told him seeing his confused face. "Trust me you're really a good guy, any girl would be lucky to have someone like you. So I don't ever want to hear something negative like that about you, understood."

Naruto blinked a moment but then he really did smile, it felt nice hearing something like that coming from her. _Man, she's a lot nicer to me since we were little. I think I like this Sakura better, too bad she most likely still likes Sasuke. I will keep my promise to bring him back and we can all be together again. I just wished she liked me more._

As they walked on he was rethinking that joke about dating Ino. Would someone like Ino like him? She was pretty, and he always did like how her hair covered part of her face, it gave his mysterious look. She had also filled out a bit more since he had been gone and no longer wore all those bandages. Was Sakura right that any girl would be lucky to have him?

The door to her house arrived far too quickly for Sakura. Resolving not to let Ino upstage her, Sakura hugged her teammate as well, drawing a huge blush and sputtered questions which reaffirmed her belief in his affection.

As the door to her home clicked shut, she went up to her room. She sat on her bed as she though back over the last little while. Why did she wanting to keep up with Ino in this, was it because she was a bit overprotective of her teammate? That she didn't want anyone to take Naruto away again? She had missed him when he had been gone, Those two and a half years seemed empty without him around. For the first few months she kept expecting to see his bright and smiling face.

Or was Naruto more than just a friend?

She thought long and hard about her feelings for Naruto, and she had to admit maybe she did like him. He was the perfect guy when she thought about it, she had already stated all his good points, sure he was loud, stubborn, a little naive, and maybe a bit perverted. But she liked those parts as well, that was what made Naruto, Naruto.

All those times she had refused him, maybe she had been making a mistake. Now Ino was moving on Naruto and it brought up all these feelings, jealousy being one of them. If Naruto was just a friend she wouldn't feel that, would she. Plus a bit of fear, fear that Naruto wouldn't be by her side anymore, if he went out with Ino that would mean less time with her and she would have missed her chance with him.

She nearly laughed at how life was so strange, Ino and her had lost a friendship over chasing after a boy that didn't seem to care for either of them. Now after they had repaired their friendship, they were going after the same boy. Only this was the boy they had both ignored and been less then nice to as children. Sakura didn't want to repeat the mistakes of the past, she would challenge Ino again, but this time she didn't want to ruin the friendship over it.

And this time she also planned to win. She already had a head start with Naruto, or did she? When was the last time he asked her for a date now that she thought about it. She quickly realized that he hadn't in awhile. A slight sliver of fear entered her heart, did he stop asking because he had given up on her?

If that was the case she needed to fix that as soon as possible. Next day would be the first day in her battle for Naruto's heart.

Meanwhile Naruto was very confused as he walked back to his place. Both Ino and Sakura had hugged him, he couldn't remember girls wanting to do that to him before. Both felt very nice as well, having them press up against him and wrap their arms around him. Ino smelled of jasmine he noticed while Sakura had smelt like cherries. Both he had felt soft skin against him and the warmth of their bodies was really nice.

_Man, today has been weird but I hope they do that again. Still, I wonder why they hugged me? Oh well, maybe they were just being more friendly. Both have been nicer to me since I got back, maybe they just wanted to be better friends._ Naruto grinned to himself at how things had changed since he was a kid. He had good friends and the village was starting to respect him now. No longer were there cold looks all around him, he actually got respect now from the village. He was on his way to accomplishing one of his goals.

When Naruto finally got home he went to straight to bed and for some reason he had a strange dream that night. It started normally with him as Hokage overlooking the crowd that was cheering him on. But this time was different, now Ino and Sakura came out of the crowd. They were saying something but he couldn't make it out. Then Sakura grabbed one of his arms saying something to Ino, while she grabbed his others saying something to her.

The next thing he knew both girls in a tug of war with him as the rope. He woke up from the dream when both girls had ripped his arms off.

He got up and looked around then made sure he had both arms. He looked at his clock to see it was still pretty late. So he got back to bed and sighed looking up at the ceiling. "Oh man that was weird. It was almost like those girls were fighting over me, but that wouldn't happen in real life would it?"

A late night crow was flying as it cawed in the night, almost as if it was an answer to his question.

**Next up Chapter 4: Rivals**

**This one was a little shorter, but the next one will be longer.**


	4. Rivals

**Unforeseen Consequences**

**Chapter 4: Rivals**

Ino awoke to the shrill, persistent clanging of her alarm clock. She slapped one hand down on the bells and hammer, briefly silencing the time piece as she struggled to awaken. With a toss of her head she flicked the blanket from her face, allowing her to glare at the evil device.

Her arm was currently stretched to the limit. As long and dainty as her fingers were, she couldn't reach behind the clock and flick the switch which would let her go back to sleep. Her groggy mind realized she only had two options: She could let go of the bell and hammers so that she could flick the switch off, but doing so would create more noise. Her other method of attack required her to pull her arm from under her torso to reach behind the clock. Either would awaken her further and would banish the possibility of going back to sleep, even briefly.

Of course, that was why she bought the thing in the first place. With the groan of the damned, Ino opted to spare her parents more noise, clutching the alarm clock's noisemakers firmly with one hand and turning the switch off with the other. Now sitting up in bed, Ino scowled at the clock and briefly considered hurling the thing out the window.

Early morning pedestrians were spared a potential head injury as Ino set the alarm clock aside and opted instead to get ready. The Hokage had requested her presence this morning. While she wasn't Tsunade's apprentice, Ino had on occasion taken lessons from the older medic. This morning would be one of those lessons. The unusual hour was normal: As busy as the Godaime was, Ino had to take whatever she was offered, be it as the sun rose or long after sun had set and the daily bustle had ended.

Her morning preparations, normally filled with fluid grace and energy, were rendered wooden and sluggish by the earlier time. Combined with the relative lateness of the night before, the girl was painfully aware that she'd gotten far less sleep than her growing body wanted. Her parents both still asleep, the girl was able to make breakfast without any light teasing from her father. Smacking face first into the front door of the shop, still locked, was just another insult to the injury of rising so early.

Ino stalked through Konoha's streets in the pre-dawn light just before sunrise, making her way to the office building which housed the Hokage's office and training hall. Even after all this time she still trained now and then with Sakura, but now she realized that she needed to increase that. With Asuma no longer in her life she needed to train herself, to become a stronger person. Maybe she could ask for more training with Sakura and the Hokage, maybe even Shizune as the woman had to have lots of experience.

oOo

Ino ducked under the fist, hearing a sharp crack as the four knuckles leading the blow broke the sound barrier. With a frightened squeal, Ino rolled under her assailants shoulder, tagging the leg with an explosive tag and then flipping away. Her assailant snagged the tag and threw it into the air, where it detonated with a light "piff" sound.

"You nearly got me that time, Ino!" Sakura encouraged, cracking her knuckles as she glanced up at the small cloud of black smoke as it lazily drifted into the sky. Sakura's smile turned into a nasty smirk as her stance dropped low, and the blond girl reflected that the pinkette was far too perky for this hour. "Well, let's continue!"

Ino whimpered as she rolled to the side, throwing several blunted shuriken at Sakura as she desperately searched her mind for a plan. Getting up this early to dodge Sakura's attacks? It had to be sadism, Ino concluded. Not to mention the added problem of being a living punching bag for the green-eyed girl's frustrations after dinner last night.

She wasn't a taijutsu-type! She wanted to learn from Tsunade to learn medical ninjutsu, not that bizarre martial art the slug sannin used which required insane amounts of strength. To be fair to the Godaime, she had begun to learn the method of building up and releasing her chakra to boost her own strength... but she was nowhere near Sakura or Tsunade's level.

"Think, Ino!" The young blond growled to herself as she leaped into the air, avoiding Sakura's fist as it ploughed a deep trench into the ground. She allowed her hand to drop into the practice tool pouch she carried. Three more dummy explosive tags, a dozen or so blunted kunai, and plenty of blunted shuriken. Not much to work with, she concluded. She hurled another shuriken at Sakura, saw the pink-haired girl duck under it before she leaped up to meet Ino mid-air.

Ino used a tree branch to deflect her jump towards the ground at the last minute, wincing as Sakura's kick snapped off the tree limb with a sharp crack. The poor branch, having done nothing wrong, was propelled ludicrously high in the air. The blond backed away and defended as Sakura charged in with her fists, a surge of adrenaline pulsing through her as she felt the air around her crack with the violence of Sakura's frenzied blows.

Grateful for the ballet lessons her mother had forced her to attend as a child, Ino used her planted foot to leap and contort in ways Sakura thought impossible as the red-clad girl's punches once again missed. The blond girl planted her hands on the ground and tumbled away, gaining much needed distance from her melee-oriented foe. She needed a plan!

Then she remembered Naruto's fight with Gaara. Imitation was flattery and Ino knew that Sakura hadn't seen this particular trick from her prankster teammates playbook. Not yet, anyway.

Wrapping a kunai handle with one of the explosive tags she had and wielding it as a close-range weapon, Ino charged in, briefly surprising her foe. She ducked under a kick as Sakura responded to the unexpected move, swinging the blade up towards pink-haired girl's throat. The Hokage's apprentice neatly caught the blade between two fingers, employing her strength to halt the weapon immediately. The blond winced as she noted how those delicate-looking fingers bent the blunted edge of the kunai.

Ino pulsed her chakra once as she abandoned the weapon, planting her lead hand on Sakura's left shoulder. Using the girl's frame as leverage, Ino jumped as she tried to drive her knee into her rival's jaw. Sakura tossed her head back, avoiding the blow as she watched the blond girl soar over her head and far out of range. Sakura didn't notice the explosive tag as it burst into flames. Not until it detonated in a puff of black smoke which covered her face in black soot.

"Sloppy, Sakura!" Ino called while still in the air, landing and not bothering to hide the smug grin. Had that been a real exploding tag, the pink-haired girl would have been dead. She'd FINALLY won a round against the Hokage's apprentice. Ino silently thanked Naruto for the tactic as Sakura wiped the soot off of her face with a gloved hand.

"You did well, Ino," Sakura acknowledged, pausing to smirk. "Maybe next time I'll use tools as well... Just so it's a little more even."

"Maybe next time we won't forbid ninjutsu," Ino replied with an equal smirk. She'd learned a very interesting fact which she could apply to her own family techniques and she fully intended to use it if Tsunade ever allowed them to use ninjutsu in their sparring.

**Naruto's Apartment**

Naruto groaned, feeling the heat on his eyelids as sleep left him slowly, stumbling from his mind. A cracked eye revealed the bright sun shining through a cloudless sky, still low in the sky and shining through his window to cast a bright column across the top half of his futon. He rolled over, feeling the light of the sun heat the back of his neck as he paused, clinging to the last vestige of sleep like a possessive child.

After a moment's pause, he stretched, realizing it was time to get up. He'd promised the old lady that he'd drop by and discuss Akatsuki with her. She said she'd have some free time with some of her students sparring. He glanced up at the clock, noting that he had roughly twenty minutes before he had to be at the training ground.

Breakfast was shrimp ramen and what was left of the carton of milk. Slurping the second, Naruto eagerly watched his electric kettle as he waited for the water to boil so he could eat the first. With a puff of steam the appliance shrieked, and the blond boy eagerly pulled back the top on the container, pouring in the hot water inside. Within moments, he'd slurped down his breakfast. Dressing quickly and opting to save cleaning up for later, he shaved a few minutes off of his morning routine and was on his way with time to spare.

It only took Naruto seven minutes to reach the training ground. He landed lightly beside Tsunade, looking over to see her two students were none other than Ino and Sakura. Both girls sported plenty of dust and minor scrapes. The pair were currently staring directly at one another, unaware of his arrival.

"Hey, Granny," Naruto called, his usual cheer somewhat diminished by the relatively early hour. The blond woman turned to him, her smile strained at the lack of respect in Naruto's form of address. She paused before turning back to the pair of her students.

"You two keep sparring. I've got to speak with Naruto," Tsunade commanded, stepping back from the pair and motioning for Naruto to follow. The boy did, idly glancing back at the two girls.

"Hey, Sakura... Why don't we go all out this time?" Ino asked, looking with a significant grin towards where the Hokage and a certain blond were speaking. Her rival smiled.

"Good idea, Ino," Sakura replied, pulling her gloves tight and grabbing a spare pouch of training tools. They strode in a circle, warily keeping an eye on one another, waiting for some unspoken signal. Their eyes locked and they paused as a gust of wind ruffled the trees, blowing leaves in between them.

Metal clashed on metal as a Sakura hurled a shuriken to deflect one of Ino's kunai.

The battle was on.

"So, you think your new jutsu worked well?" Tsunade asked, eying Naruto with her arms crossed as she leaned against a tree, her eyes never leaving the two girls. The blue-eyed boy's response was cut off by a loud yell and a localized earthquake as Sakura's fist drove into the ground, shattering the flat earth and turning it into a cloud-filled crater. Ino was airborn, sailing over her rival's head and throwing several shuriken to keep the pink-haired girl distracted.

Five blond girls landed and sprinted at Sakura from various directions. The Hokage's apprentice countered with five shuriken, grinning as they passed harmlessly through four clones and the remaining blond ducked under.

"Say, aren't they getting a little rough for sparring?" Naruto asked, his eyes tracking his teammate as she charged Ino with another punch. This one went straight through a tree, pulping wood and cracking it straight up the middle. The girl used one of the falling halves of the tree as leverage to escape a kunai hurled by Ino.

Hearing no response from the other person watching the battle Naruto turned, seeing a look of stunned comprehension dawn on the medic-nin's face, her jaw dropping ever so slightly. She glanced once at Naruto, then back to the fight, the corner of her mouth twitching into a bemused smile.

"Did they get into a fight or something?" Naruto asked, pointing to the carnage. He flinched as another earthquake nearly tossed him to the ground, throwing his arms above his head to protect against stray debris. "Do you know anything, Granny?"

Naruto scowled as the woman chuckled. "Hey, hey! What's so funny, you old hag!"

"You're an idiot," The Hokage concluded with a scowl, rolling her eyes as she turned her concentration on the fight. She gestured to where Ino was twisting out of the way of Sakura's melee blows, the blond girl concentrating as she searched for a way of opening up space between her and her foe. "You might want to watch, brat. You may even learn something."

Naruto's eyes widened and he turned to watch the fight. He could always talk to the old woman later.

oOo

Round two. Ignoring Naruto and Tsunade's intense gaze, the duet clashed. Sakura's unreasonably strong taijutsu versus Ino's acrobatic dodges as the blond did her best to avoid broken bones and unsightly bruises. Ino knew she had to play to her advantages to win this fight. She grinned, forming the seals for Shintenshin no Jutsu as she glared at her rival. Sakura flinched, flipping back and gaining the distance to dodge.

It was all Ino needed. Her fingers shifted from the final seal of her family's jutsu to another ninjutsu, more well-known to her pink-haired rival.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Though not her signature technique, it was certainly within Ino's ability to learn. She grinned as a single clone poofed into existence alongside her, ignoring the massive chakra drain as her reserves were halved. Ino grinned at the look of confusion on her foe's face. She didn't realize, even now.

Ino's clone converged on Sakura, plunging in for the attack. Within meters of her foe, her clone used a simple clone, throwing Sakura into confusion by robbing her of the time needed to tell the difference between the solid clone and the illusions. Forced to dodge the attacks of both types clones, Sakura was pelted several times with solid fists. She lashed out, dispersing two of the regular Bunshins, receiving a ringing headache for her trouble as Ino's solid clone slammed a heel into her rival's head.

"Now!" Ino roared, her clone grinning at her call, forming the seal for shadow clone and producing a dozen shadow clones of her own. Those clones all used clone jutsu, surrounding Sakura with a virtual army of Inos. Again they rushed the pink-haired girl, who was pelted with dozens of punches and kicks as she tried to defend against the onslaught. Trained to deal with only a small number of foes, Sakura could do nothing but stumble from one attack to the next, collecting bruises and other minor injuries as she avoided the worst of the attacks.

"Nice, Sakura!" Ino called, her clones echoing her words. The feeling of a small army buoying her words, the blond girl understood the orange-clad boy's desire to gloat while he sat back and watched his army pummel his foe. She had just over a dozen clones under her command, and the feeling was intoxicating. "You've watched Naruto fight often enough! Don't tell me you can't deal with shadow clones!"

Thinking about the stories Ino had heard from Sakura and Shikamaru, she couldn't imagine commanding thousands of disposable warriors, all at level of taijutsu higher than her own. With one Jutsu, she commanded a small force of ninja capable of putting her _rival _purely on the defensive. At the same twitch of _his _fingers, Naruto wielded an army, each of which was nearly as good as Neji at taijutsu. No wonder the boy was sometimes arrogant. Who needed to be humble when they had an army in reserve whenever they needed it?

But she didn't have the stamina to keep this up, already she was feeling the drain. If she didn't finish this soon she would collapse.

"Clever, Ino!" Sakura called, shoving her hand into her tool pouch and producing a hand full of kunai and shuriken. The smile on the green-eyed girl's face only broadened as she took in the army by which she was surrounded. "But... Let me show you why Naruto is the only one capable of using that technique against jounin-level ninja!"

With those words, Sakura hurled her ninja tools in circle around herself. Throwing her arms in front of her face and dodging, Ino could only watch as all of her clones were dispersed in a single attack.

"See, Naruto's use of shadow clones is special. It's a style of attack only he can use," Sakura commented, grinning as Ino stood, alone now in the woods. She waved her hands around.

"Naruto can call hundreds of clones to his side as he needs them. The loss of a few clones doesn't bother him at all, because creating more is child's play. His army is infinite. I can tell from the look on your face... Yours is not."

Sakura cracked her knuckles, stretching her arms. Then, with a sharp thrust which cracked the ground beneath her feet, she launched herself at Ino. The blond rolled underneath the kick, planting her hands and channelling her chakra just so. Sticking briefly, she was able to plant her feet and flip backwards, soaring over Sakura's head as the pink-haired girl spun around.

Confused, Sakura was unprepared for the sweep kick which robbed her of her footing. She found herself falling chest-first onto a blunted kunai held up by her foe. Only by planting her arms and channelling chakra in a burst was Sakura able to stop her downward momentum. She rolled to her right, avoiding Ino's blade as the blond girl slashed in her direction.

Both girls clashed one last time, Ino regaining her feet and dipping her hands into her tool pouch as she performed a palm strike to Sakura's solar plexus. Sakura ignored the blow, her own punch far more effective as she slammed her fist into Ino's jaw. Perhaps not at full strength, but close enough. The blond skipped along the ground like a flat stone hurled over the surface of the water, finally caught by Naruto before she struck a tree.

"Boom," Ino commented firmly as her eyes met Naruto's, grinning as consciousness fled. Naruto looked up to see three explosive tags slapped onto Sakura's body detonate into puffs of smoke. Bewildered, his own mind ran back to his fight with Gaara, years ago. It was the same tactic. Distract your foe long enough to trade strikes, then let them hit you with a stronger taijutsu attack than you could hit back with. Then they get blown to hell while they're revelling in their victory.

It was exactly the same. Right down to the word on Ino's lips as it worked. Naruto gazed down at the unconscious girl's face in wonderment.

"So, it's a draw then," Tsunade commented, her eyes narrowing as she watched Sakura approach. She wagged one finger at her apprentice. "I'm surprised Sakura... Ino beat you one and now a draw. Even if her teacher was the Third's son, that doesn't excuse how sloppy you were in losing to explosive tags twice in a row! I'll have to double your taijutsu training!"

"Why technically a draw?" Naruto asked.

"Because if this was real fight, then Sakura's punch would have taken Ino's head off with that kind of punch. It's only because Sakura wasn't hitting at full power that Ino wasn't killed." Tsunade explained.

"Oh that makes sense," Naruto said mainly to himself.

oOo

"Oi, old woman! Why do I have to carry Ino!?" Naruto demanded, shifting the blond girl's limp weight on his shoulders. Her arms dangled limply on each side of his neck, and the blond boy was very firmly trying NOT to think about how his hands were supporting her weight.

Walking back from the training ground at a more sedate pace than he'd arrived, Naruto couldn't help but be annoyed. He'd been called out for a quick talk, and here he was doing all the work.

"Isn't it obvious?" The Hokage countered, shaking her head. "Even if it's not TOO much, Sakura is injured from her battle with Ino... and I'm the Hokage. That leaves you as the only one to transport Ino, Naruto."

"I guess," Naruto muttered, paused and shifting Ino's weight so that it was easier to carry. He still thought the reasoning was suspect, though accepted the burden in the end. It wasn't like the girl was heavy. They journeyed in comparative silence, Naruto silently plodding along as Sakura and Tsunade spoke quietly.

Eventually they reached Konoha proper.

"Naruto, you can take Ino back to her house," The Hokage announced, gesturing down the road. "Sakura and I will be at the hospital, attending to our duties. After you drop Ino off at her home come to the hospital so we can finish our conversation, Naruto. And tell that girl she's not allowed to get out of bed for the rest of the day!"

Sakura appeared to be on the verge of arguing, but held her tongue, shooting a glare at the unconscious girl on Naruto's shoulders. The blond boy cocked his head at this, wondering. Nothing came to him as he examined the Hokage's grin and his teammate's scowl, so he merely leaped to the rooftops and made his way to his burden's home, making just a brief stop on the way.

oOo

Ino was slow to awaken, her mind feeling as sluggish as if it were trapped in sticky mud. A jumble of images, her fighting Sakura, crept at the edge of comprehension, ending with soft blue eyes and a concerned face. Clearly Sakura's last punch had packed a fair amount of force, a suspicion confirmed by the lucidity brought about by the sharp lightning strike of pain as she moved her head.

She kept her eyes closed, focusing on her other senses. Something soft and comforting underneath her, almost as if she were sleeping in her own bed. The light sound of someone else breathing, just off to her left. The smell of clean sweat mingled with the comforting smell of mingled evergreen needles and seasonal tree leaves. The tangy copper of dried blood, welling from a sharp throbbing on the inside of her lower lip.

Her eyes opened to a dark blur, before her vision brightened into focus on the infuriating sight of Naruto. Her vision sharpened more to reveal that she was, in fact, in her room. Naruto sat in the chair normally resting in front of her desk, a tray holding a steaming pot of tea and an empty cup resting on her night table.

"Hey, you're awake!" Naruto's loud voice chimed, doing no favours for her headache. Ino felt the urge to scream at him for the lack of caution in dealing with someone who probably had a concussion, let alone for the invasion of privacy, but she didn't have the heart to voice anything against the youth's broad grin.

It was infectious enough for Ino to match, split lip and all. She winced as she levered herself up, consciousness swimming and making her feel as if she was swaying. The gentle, firm hand of Naruto's hand on her shoulder, keeping her from tumbling gracelessly onto his lap, proved it to be more than just a feeling.

"So, I lost?" Ino finally queried, struggling to balance her upright body. She got her elbows planted and managed to keep steady in a graceless slouch. The position was poor for her posture AND put a decided lack of emphasis on the parts she wanted to draw Naruto's attention to, but the gray-eyed Yamanaka lacked the energy to do more.

"No it was a draw but you won the first one so that means you came out ahead!" Naruto assured her, grinning as he rubbed his jaw. Releasing his hand from her shoulder, he raised his index finger in the air, unconsciously mimicking their academy teacher as he continued. "Granny Tsunade said that the explosive tags would have killed Sakura if this was real, but that Sakura's punch would have killed you as well since you were knocked out by it."

She thought about that, she was happy with the win and the draw was okay. For too long Sakura won their little training matches and it felt nice to get ahead. But she knew it would be harder next time, Sakura wouldn't fall for the same trick twice. Plus she wouldn't have her guard down again, Ino knew she would have to fight even harder to beat down the pink haired girl.

But maybe she was finally catching up to her rival after all this time.

"I think I'll avoid winning like that in the future," the blond admitted ruefully, feeling the ache in her jaw as she rubbed her chin. She scarcely remembered the beginning of the fight with Sakura, let alone the conclusion. Despite her efforts to the contrary, the jumbled images remained a chaotic montage with no order or flow. Her eyes met the youth watching her intently and she managed another smile. "Fake explosive tags leave Sakura covered in soot, but you can't really fake a knockout punch."

"That's why you should focus on taijutsu," Naruto smirked, clenching his fist. He threw a jab to his left and thumbed his nose. "It's better to be the one clobbering someone out than being the one clobbered. It's not like you'll ever find yourself in a situation where being able to fight well will hinder you."

"I'll admit that my skills are a little weak," Ino admitted, as much to herself as the orange-clad genin at her side. She smiled and lowered her voice just a touch, adding, "Maybe you can help me learn some grappling?"

"Sure!" Naruto agreed. The blond girl reflected that perhaps that clueless nature of his had its positive sides. It would certainly present her with opportunities the likes of which few people ever offered. Just like an opponent who charges into an ambush without noticing the sprung traps. Naruto gave Ino a thumbs up. "The only guy who's better than me is Bushy brows and I don't think you want your hands all battered and bruised!"

"Certainly not. Though that green outfit would probably look alright on me, wouldn't it?" Ino's stare and the cast of her smirk were, perhaps, direct enough to pierce the wall of obliviousness surrounding Naruto, however briefly. After a moment of dawning comprehension, the boy blushed bright red and directed his eyes elsewhere while the silver-eyed girl chuckled.

"Anyway," Naruto coughed, his eyes not quite meeting the injured kunoichi as he stood. He strode to her open window, planting a foot on the sill. "I've got to get back to the old lady and see what she wants. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"See you later, Naruto," Ino said with a nod, keeping her eyes on billowing curtains of her window even after the loud shinobi had departed. She had certainly made progress. Perhaps even clued the boy in to her intentions, though she wouldn't be banking on that sort of miracle. What little perception the perpetual genin possessed seemed to be focused on fighting or training. In a lot of ways, he was still the same naive little boy he'd been when he graduated from the academy. Perhaps that was the reason everyone who knew him had such faith in him. He was, in some ways, too pure for any serious guile or deception.

Her introspection was interrupted by her mother's quiet cough at the door. One of her mother's delicate fingers flicked towards the flowers sitting in a plain-looking vase. The florist in Ino groaned at an arrangement of undying passion, fervent devotion, and... embarrassingly enough, unquestioned fidelity. When the breeze shifted and the tea reeked of ginseng, Ino was left to ponder the depths of Naruto's ignorance and the astounding amount of trouble it could cause.

He saw some tea for revitalizing energy and a handful of pretty flowers. Her mother, her teacher in both Ikebana and herbology, saw something decidedly less innocent and alarming more adult.

"Ino, do we need to have a talk?" Though phrased as a question, the blond girl knew it was instead a statement of fact. As her mother sat on the edge of her bed with a stern look, searching for words, Ino was left to wonder just what sort of retribution the blond genin was due for the long, embarrassing discussion she was about to have.

oOo

Sakura was, for the first time in a great many years, experiencing an emotion so long absent from her life that it felt alien. This emotion wasn't anything pleasant, that she knew right away, but it took her nearly half the walk to the hospital to finally identify it: She was jealous, or perhaps even envious, of Ino.

It had been a long time since she'd last felt it. Around the time that she and Ino both discovered they had a crush on Sasuke. It was on that day, so long ago, that the pink-tressed girl decided to push away jealousy and envy. She'd grabbed those feelings and buried them somewhere deep and dark, somewhere she thought she'd never see them again. She thought she never would, given how amiable their relationship became after that first chunin exam.

The years since they'd rekindled their relationship had, she'd assumed, been an ample test of that resolve. Not once in the three years since they'd resumed being friends, had she ever wished she were Ino, wished that the blond girl and her own role were reversed. Perhaps with Sasuke gone that resolve had never really been tested, but she was sure she was completely beyond it.

Yet seeing the blonde girl smile while her head rested gently against Naruto's on the walk back from their sparring match, Sakura finally understood it was jealousy causing that uneasy feeling in her gut. She knew that she didn't want to repeat the same mistakes of the past but she couldn't help feel what she felt seeing them like that.

"Sakura... Even with my lousy record for gambling, I bet you're wondering why I ordered Naruto to take Ino home," Tsunade's statement could have been a thought plucked from the green-eyed girl's mind, and her slack-jawed amazement told the Sannin as much. She smiled. "I can understand your confusion, Sakura."

They walked in silence for a moment, amusement and confused amazement. Sakura's mind finally put words to the question her heart begged to ask.

"Well... if you don't mind telling me... Why did you?" Sakura finally asked, carefully keeping her voice neutral.

"It's actually very simple, Sakura," Tsunade explained, shrugging her shoulders. Despite her casual gesture, the slug summoner refused to meet her apprentice's eyes. "Ino seems to have an interest in Naruto. I think they might be good for one another."

"But-"

"But Naruto has always had a crush on you, and who am I to interfere with his affection for you?" Tsunade interrupted and then continued before the girl could answer the question. "Sakura, no man's heart is a toy. Seeing that girl's interest beside your own lack thereof, I have no reason whatsoever not to help Ino. You have to face the fact that he might not always be there when you decide that you're ready."

"I know that now," Sakura admitted softly to herself. She knew that she had pushed Naruto's affection to just friendship for a very long time. In fact she was worried maybe for too long she had done that, only Tsunade couldn't have known that Sakura had started to see Naruto as more than just a friend. But she wanted to see what else her mentor had to say before she spoke up again.

Crossing a bridge away from the crowds, Tsunade stopped suddenly. She walked to the railing to watch the river flowing underneath, seeming to draw a measure of calm from the placid, gentle flow of water. When she spoke it held no heat, only remorse.

"Sakura, I don't want to see you waste your life hiding behind a wall of excuses. Neither do I want Naruto to spend his life waiting until you tear those walls down. If you're not prepared to fight for him, you have no excuse to be angry if someone else is." Despite the blond woman's gentle words, the splinter of the wooden railing beneath her deceptively gentle hand showed a lack of control the red-clad chunin had rarely seen in her teacher. The sad eyes met Sakura's own, and the young girl was amazed at the depth of pain she saw. "The way you've modeled yourself after me is a great compliment, Sakura. Please, don't take it so far that you repeat my mistakes."

Moments stretched into an eternity and Sakura finally recognized the fragile woman beneath the gruff exterior. Despite the smooth, unmarred surface she showed the world, this was a woman who had flaws which could unmake her with the slightest pressure. Sakura now saw the woman who had had to rely on a genin for protection. The woman who had lost one love to death; but there was something more as well something other than the death of Dan.

She knew of Dan, from Shizune as the older woman had talked about her relative during Sakura's training. She could only imagine the pain that caused both Shizune and Tsunade but there was something more to this. Like Tsunade was speaking about another love that she had only this one she had let slip.

Sakura suddenly thought of Jiraiya, was this history repeating itself? Did her mentor have feelings for her own teammate but had ignored them all this time like Sakura had?

"Tsunade, I've got too much respect for you not to model myself after you in any way I can," Sakura finally admitted, flashing her teacher a small smile. She risked placing a gentle hand on one shoulder. "I guess that means you'll have to do what you can to fix your own mistakes so I don't make the same ones, right?"

"But, there's been too much since then!" Tsunade's voice was close to panic: Like a hungry predator, Sakura pounced on it feeling she knew she was on the right track.

"You're the one telling me that it's not worth repeating mistakes, Tsunade-_chan._" Sakura's grin was just as smug as the strange honorific, and restored some of the fire she was so used to seeing in her idol's eyes. "Besides, you're the one who keeps telling me that no matter what, you can't give up. Why give up now that you've gained so much wisdom?"

"And I'm supposed to be the teacher," Tsunade finally growled, spinning to lean back against the railing. She flashed a smile to Sakura, and the green-eyed girl saw a serenity she would have rarely associated with Konoha's Fifth Hokage. Then the older woman jabbed Sakura's solar plexus with a scowl which didn't reach the smile in her eyes. "That doesn't let you off the hook, girl! You've still got to make a decision about the blond brat, you know."

"Actually I made a decision last night," Sakura admitted. "I just don't want to ruin my friendship with Ino this time around but I will fight for him. Naruto has always been close to me and very good for me as well. I want to give him the same kind of happiness that he's given me."

In the three years they'd shared, neither the young girl or the mature woman were as close to one another as they were then. Their shared grins reflected a camaraderie which went beyond the bonds of a teacher and student: They were close friends with a similar pain and unconquerable struggle, finally released from the solitude of their emotional trap in mutual enlightenment.

Despite all that she had learned from the woman in the past and all the moments they would share in the future, both knew that this strange honesty on the bridge would be the defining moment of their relationship.

**Next up Chapter 5: Students and Masters**

**Okay now it's all me, the rest of this is totally all my work.**


	5. Students and Masters

**Unforeseen Consequences**

**Chapter 5: Students and Masters**

Naruto was just walking aimlessly through the streets he had already had his talk with Tsunade. So far they hadn't come up with anything new against Akatsuki. Jiraiya was on his way to give a report on anything he could have come up with and maybe even train Naruto for a bit as well. Naruto was looking forward to that. But there was something else on his mind lately and that was the sparring he had seen between Ino and Sakura.

He had seen Sakura fight many times, she was always amazing. Hell she did beat that puppet guy from Akatsuki. But Ino had surprised him he hadn't really seen her fight since the chunin exams against Sakura all those years ago. Tsunade still wasn't any help when he has asked about that, she just smirked at him and shook her head, saying that she wasn't going to get in the middle of that.

Naruto hated it when people talked about things he didn't understand without explaining it. It was just so frustrating. At any rate that was what led him to this point, he was starting to think that maybe he should just put his free time to some use with some more training. That spar with Neji had been fun but he still felt he could get stronger. He had to get stronger, he couldn't relay on the power of the Fox anymore like he had when he was a kid. He had to use his own power now and not borrow from the damn Fox. Already it had caused him to hurt Sakura, his face fell remembering that.

Although he didn't remember what happened when he entered the Fox's cage, he did remember when he was told how Sakura had gotten that injury on her arm. It was then that he had to use his own strength first Jiraiya had been hurt maybe even nearly killed and now Sakura. He was hurting those closest to him with that power. So now he thought about different ways to improve.

He could try to do the chakra concentration exercises to help him with his control, but he never did have the patience for it. He would most likely just make an army and pass out when he was finished. Maybe he could track down Lee and ask for weights to increase his speed? That could work although it could take awhile for him to build up to the kind of speed he needed. He didn't really know any weapons he could train in other than the usual stuff he carried and the only weapon user he knew was Tenten. She could be nice but she could only teach him at her level, so no shadow clones at least not too many.

Plus what kind of weapon would he even bother to train with? So he put that idea aside and tried to think of more. Genjutsu was out as he just royally sucked at it he honestly had no talent at all for it so he just skipped it. He might want to look up more wind style jutsus, that was one possibility, maybe he could track down Kakashi, he might know where he could get some more. He had decent control over his wind chakra now. Another possibility was trying to find a way to safely use the Rasenshuriken, but if Sakura or Tsunade found out they wouldn't be too happy with him. He was supposed to be forbidden to even use it, which really sucked for him. All that time making such a kick ass move and what happens after he uses it to wipe the floor with that weird Akatsuki? Turns out he can't use it because it would ruin his ninja career.

Oh well, it wasn't like he didn't know adversity in life, it was just another thing to overcome.

While Naruto was on his wonderings a familiar person had seen him. This was none other than Jiraiya himself the Toad Sage and master for Naruto. He had been on his way to see Tsuande when he saw his apprentice. He always did like Naruto, he was a perfect blend of his parents and over those two and a half years, he had enjoyed the time with the boy. It reminded him of another time, with three other youths back in Rain. He wondered what became of them, he had looked into it, but the three just seemed to have disappeared. That worried him but he had faith that they were okay.

He decided to talk with his latest student, besides he was still early and he wanted to check in on him.

"Hey Naruto."

Naruto looked over to who had called him and he broke out into a smile. "Ero-sennin!"

The older man sighed. "When will you ever stop calling me that?"

"When you stop being such a pervert." He grinned crossing his arms.

"I told you that I'm not a pervert, I'm a super pervert!" He yelled in his face totally forgetting that they were out in public. Many stopped to give strange and shocked looks, the women also took several steps away from Jiraiya as well.

"Anyways when did you get back?" Naruto asked him.

"Just now," he said smiling at the boy. "So how have things been? Heard that you came up with something new while I was gone."

Naruto got a huge grin on his face, "Yeah I completed the rasengan! I put my wind charka into it and came up with this killer move!"

Jiraiya laughed as he clapped the boy on his back. "That's my student! It took Minato years to just make the rasengan but you managed to finish what he started in no time."

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei came up with his major training using a lot of shadow clones."

"Ah, so that's how he did managed to get you to pull it off in such a short time," Jiraiya thought about that. It made sense as Naruto used shadow clones like people wore shoes, he might be the only person to be a true 'master' of that jutsu. With each clone gaining experience it would cut the training down from years to days. The only reason he hadn't bothered to try that while on the training trip, was that the kid just wasn't ready for that kind of training. It was very harsh and no one but him could pull it off and live. But now that he could train that way, there was no telling what he could pull off in the future.

"Hey, Ero-sennin can I as you something?" Naruto said a little more serious but also looking slightly nervous.

"Sure what is it?"

"Well it's just that Sakura-chan and Ino-chan have been acting strange lately," Naruto said.

Jiraiya lifted an eyebrow at the last part, as far as he knew the Sakura girl was the only girl that he used the 'chan' at the end of the name. Had something been going on lately, his 'pervert sense' started to tingle as he felt something really good was going on in the village. He grinned as he looked at the young man.

"Ino-chan, huh? I thought you liked the little pink haired girl only. Have you given up or are you making a move on someone else?"

"I-it's not like that!" Naruto said although he did blush bright red. "She's just been really nice to me lately."

"Nice how?" Naruto went on about how she had offered to treat his team but only Sakura could make it. Also how her teammates seemed to have been busy. Jiraiya couldn't believe how the boy could miss obvious signs like that. He had tried to teach him about women on the trip, but he had always been more interested in jutsus and less then, 'ways of the perverted hermit' as he called it. If the boy had he might have known exactly what was going on. But there had to be something else going on as well.

He asked what else was going on with them and he explained the training he saw, and how for some strange reason the girls were going all out suddenly when they knew he and Tsunade were there. He had asked Tsunade but she hadn't told him a think. Jiraiya however could see what was going on, the boy now had the girl he had pinned after for years interested, but also it would seem another girl had entered into the race for his heart. He chuckled to himself at how lucky the boy was, having two such women would be any man's dream.

"Naruto let me give you some advice on women," he said as they walked on. "First off, no man, not even me, will ever truly understand them. They had their own rules and way of thinking, you can get some of them but only a women can truly understand another woman I fear. But there are a few things that you should remember about them."

"First off if they find something they really want they will fight to the death for it sometimes. Trust me I've seen how competitive they can get, they say males are territorial but we don't hold a candle to women defending what they think is 'theirs'. Another thing is that a woman is known to change her mind, like is she likes some boy she'll go after him."

Naruto sighed and nodded, remembering how all the girls had been like back in school with Sasuke, even Sakura.

"But like I said, they have been known to change their minds and they could decide they like another boy."

"Really? So...you think that say one day, a girl that likes one boy for a long time might...like another that she didn't like for awhile?"

Jiraiya could see what he was getting too, "Yeah that can happen, but also be prepared. Maybe a girl you never once considered before might like you and decides to want you."

That made Naruto blush, "Y-you really think so? But how will I know if a girl likes me?"

The toad sage sighed, he really wished Naruto had paid attention when he tried to teach him about women more. "There are a few signs, one is that they make meals for you, want to spend time with you, they smile or blush a lot, maybe even a little nervous. They might even try to be more physical with you?"

"P-physical?" Naruto gulped and grinned at the images that gave him.

Jiraiya chuckled as he saw that, maybe there was hope for his apprentice after all.

**-Hokage's Office-**

Tsunade was having a hard time at the moment, it had nothing to do with reports (those were finally finished thank god), or any political problems on the rise. In fact it wasn't even something to do with her job as Hokage but more as a woman. Her talk with Sakura had been making her think on her own past, she wondered when it was that she had fallen for the old pervert. Sure he was a major pervert and wrote those adult books but what little people knew what that, it was those books that opened her eyes.

It all started years ago, while she had been running away from her pain after Dan's death that she had seen one of Jiraiya's books. She knew the kinds of stuff that were in it, but maybe out of boredom or maybe just curiosity she bought one. Of course she wasn't surprised by the smut in it, she was surprised by the plot between two of the characters. One character was a man that had fallen madly in love with his teammate, of course the girl blew him off but he kept on trying. She had read how he would always be there for her and how when she hurt, he hurt as well. How torn up he had been when their other teammate betrayed them. How he had wanted to die when the woman he had loved for years chose another man without even giving him a chance.

But he stayed by her side, always happy to see her happy, but always in pain because he couldn't be the one that could make her that happy. Then when her lover was killed and she had gone into a deep depression, he had tried to help but she closed him off.

She had gone through half the first book until she realized he had been using his own life to write the books. Orochimaru had been the betrayer, he was the man that had longed to be loved by the woman he cared for, and she was the woman. To actually read the words he put into them, she had been surprised by them. They had been so deep that she felt bad for giving him such pain. But the next time she had seen him, years had passed and she thought that maybe too much time had gone by.

But was it too late?

Tsunade was waiting for Jiraiya to make a report to her but she felt strange. She hadn't felt like this since she was a young woman with Dan. This anticipation in her chest, why was she nervous, she knew the old man still had a thing for her. Or was it just an act? He had acted like that for as long as she had known him, hell the first day he had made a lame pass at her. Plus even in his fifties he kept in great shape, but she used a genjutsu to hide her real age. How would he react to her real face? Was he in love with the woman, or just in lust with the illusion?

It was then that she noticed his presence, at her window no less. "Can't you come in through the door like a normal person?"

She didn't see his face with her back to him but she knew he was giving that smile of his. "Naw, that's not for me, why be like everyone else?"

She turned to face him as she sat down on her chair, "So I take it that you've gotten some information?"

He shrugged as they both got into more serious nature they both knew when they had to take things seriously. "Well they seem to be more active as of late, not sure why though. For years they've kept to the shadows but they're more active than ever. They seem to nearly have them all now soon they'll come after Naruto."

Tsunade felt a stab of fear into her heart at that. "How long?"

"Honestly it's hard to tell," He sighed as he grossed his arms. "It might be soon, but there is more. I've heard rumours that they might have something to with the Hidden Rain. I'm thinking of checking it out, plus there is something else I want to check on as well."

Tsunade had to smile a little as she had a guess. "Going to try and find those three kids again."

"I know most would have given them up for dead," he said as he looked out over the village. "But you don't know those kids like I knew them. I trained them and although I wish I could have taken them back with me, I know that they have to still be out there."

"You always were so very caring to others I don't know why you insist on making people think you're just some perverted writer all the time."

He grinned at her, "Hey don't go spoiling that, I spent years to get that reputation. Besides if people expect me to be just that then they won't expect my real skills, plus I am a pervert."

She rolled her eyes, he always seemed so very proud of that. Then again, that was one of the things she did like about him, he wasn't afraid to show the world who he was. She hadn't let her genjutsu drop in years so she couldn't say the same. But still, he made her smile with his antics he always did in fact even when she shouted at him or had to punish him for being too perverted with her. She had always enjoyed their time together. It had been when he had gone away for those years to take care of those three war orphans that she had started to miss him.

Those had been lonely times and it was also when she had met Dan, maybe if he hadn't left, would she had still fallen for him? Dan had been important to her, but Jiraiya had always been there in some way.

"Well if that's all I could use a drink, I've had a long day and I could use some time to relax." Tsunade said as she stretched her arms up to get the kinks out, also she gave Jiraiya a subtle little thrill to see what his reaction would be. She held off the smirk as she saw him stare and gulp a bit as her very impressive bust was pushed together. The slight blood from his nose that he quickly wiped away made her know that he was still at least physically attracted to her.

"You wouldn't happen to want the company of a handsome man would you?" He grinned at her he was prepared for the usual she would do. She would give him a glare, or maybe even punch him. The truth was that he always found her sexy when she was angry, why else would he get her railed up all the time, well that and it was fun.

She surprised him though by doing something he had never expected. She gave him a small smile and for a minute there, he thought he caught something in her eye that was anything but anger. It was gone before he could fully see it but something was off here.

"Sure, I would like that. I keep the good stuff at my place, I usually have to drink there as having the great Hokage drunk in public I'm told, is bad for my image." She snorted at that last part. She was a heavy drinking gambler, the fact that people chose to ignore it she just didn't understand. She paused when she noticed that he wasn't following her and looked over her shoulder.

"Are you coming or not?"

Jiraiya had been frozen as something amazing was happening, the girl he had chased after for most of his life not only didn't hit him for making another half-assed pass but was inviting him, to her home, to drink...

What that could lead to wasn't lost on him, hell he had so many fantasies that some of them even started out this way. Something was going on here though, he wasn't going to get his hopes up. At least not just yet but he would play this out. After all, it was the hope that one day she would accept his feelings for her as genuine and give them back, that had make him last this long.

"Anyways what's this I hear with Naruto and a couple of girls?" He asked as they left.

Tsunade laughed, "I'll explain while we get the drinks."

Jiraiya lifted an eyebrow at this, _'Maybe there's more going on in the village than just Naruto and those two girls...I think I'll put off my trek into Rain, just for a bit at least.'_ He thought as he couldn't help was look at her ass as she swayed her hips while walking. He got a perverted grin on his face, if things shaped up maybe he could put off leaving just yet.

**-Ino-**

After a very long and embarrassing talk with her mother, Ino took a some light bills for the pain in her jaw while applying the basic medical skills she had to heal her jaw. There was still some discoloration but it was only a little and the swelling and pain was lessened a lot as well. Now it was just a matter of going to find Naruto again. She had to admit that it was very kind of him to put her in her own bed like that, some would only just drop her off with her family but he always went that little extra mile.

She sat on her bed as she thought about how things could have been different if she had known now, what she had known as a young girl. If she had gone after Naruto instead of Sasuke, she started to list how things could have been different. She would have had a boy that would have been fun to hang out with, very kind, and she had a feeling that if Naruto ever got a girlfriend, he would make sure she was looked after. She also wouldn't have wasted years chasing Sasuke, which was all for nothing after he left the village.

She groaned as she flopped back onto her bed, she and Sakura had wasted so much time and energy on that boy, and not once had he even noticed them. They had spent time chasing after Sasuke that they both could have used training. As a result she had passes with average scores, the only reason Sakura was ahead was that she was smarter with the book stuff. Looking at her skills now, she could only laugh at her younger self.

But she was getting off topic she went back to listing the things that would have been different. For one, without chasing after Sasuke she wouldn't have lost Sakura. They would have remained friends all these years. Plus if she had gotten him in the past, the current little rivalry wouldn't be going on as well.

Well that was one thing that she had learned while growing up, you can't change the past only learn from it. It took Asuma's death to really get her thinking on her life and improving. Maybe if she had Sakura's medical skills she could have saved him but because she only took the basic courses...no, she didn't want to go down that road again. She kept coming back to that, and she knew that Shikamaru felt even more responsible.

She sighed as she starting to think about how to make Naruto to notice her more. So far the tricking him into a date hadn't worked, maybe she should just be more upfront? On second thought he never did respond well to women that came on too strong. She needed a more subtle approach, plus he still held a torch for Sakura. She needed to make _him_ feel interested in her in order to make him consider going out with her. Until she could do something like that, then asking him out, he might actually turn it down.

Now, the first part was how to get a boy to notice you. She thought about Naruto and the kind of boy he was and what might work for her. It took her some time but she had remembered that Naruto did offer to help her with her fighting and grappling. A smirk came onto her face at that, with grappling and in such closer quarters maybe she could both learn something and make him take notice of her. After all, 'accidents' did happen and maybe they would even talk and get to know each other more.

As the plan formed she felt better to be able to travel, she needed to make sure that Naruto had the day off tomorrow for some training that he offered.

**-Sakura-**

Sakura sighed as she got out of her shower. She had cleaned up after her training with Ino had left a major mess. Already her mother had been washing her clothing for her, so she was glad for that. Although her mother had gotten used to cleaning Sakura's clothing when she became a ninja. It wasn't easy to find ways to get things like soot, dirt that had been worn for days while on a mission, to even blood. Her mother hated it when there was blood, she had always been afraid since Sakura started to train as a ninja as a little girl. It had lessened since then but Sakura could still tell her parents were afraid for her at times.

They were merchants by trade, but Sakura never had interests in that. She had wanted something different in her life and living in a ninja village, you either became a civilian or ninja. So it was only logical for her to become the first ninja in her family. Despite the underlying fear, her parents were also so very proud of her. She remembered when she made chunin her parents had taken her out to dinner and said how much she had grown. When she become the apprentice to the Hokage herself, her parents had told her that they were very proud of her.

But now she had another thing to think on, and that was Naruto. She needed to do something for him, after all the things they had been through and to make up for when she had been younger. She had spent the shower thinking long and hard on it.

She started to think about Naruto and tried to think of something that would really mean something to him. She could just take him out for ramen but there were two problems with that, it was more of a friendship gesture and also her poor savings would feel it. How he managed to eat so much and not be poor all the time she had no idea. Then again she had a feeling that the people running his favorite place gave him a discount. With all the ramen he ate there, they had to make up for it plus they liked him as well.

She smiled thinking about how happy he always was to go there, and then the smile fell as it came to her. That was most likely because they were the only people who cooked for him, he never had parents who would take care of him when he was little. Reminded of that only made her feel a bit of sadness of how lonely his life had to have been. She had known loneliness herself before Ino came into her life. She sighed as she put on some clothing she wore while off duty.

A knock came on her door.

"Yes?"

"I got your clothing is it okay to come in?" Her mother asked.

"Sure come on in," Sakura said as her door opened up. In walked Saki Haruno, she was an average looking woman with the exception of the long pink hair as this was where Sakura got her hair color from. Her mother's hair had faded a bit with age but not too much, also her mother had cream colored skin and brown eyes. She was just starting to get a couple of lines on her eyes as she spent a lot of time squinting in her life to read small prints and examine items for damage.

"I don't know what you did to this but please don't do it too often," her mother smiled as she put her clean clothing away. "If it was on there any deeper I wouldn't have gotten the stains out."

"Thanks mom, training just got a little intense today." Sakura told her mother. "Hey mom, I'm trying to think of something nice to do for a friend but I can't really think of something."

"Oh, who is it for dear?"

"For my teammate Naruto."

"Oh Naruto huh, you know I wish you would bring your team around just once. All these years and you never onced brought them. Your father and I only met your team sensei on the day he came to ask about you on your first day."

"Wait, Kakashi-sensei was here?" Sakura had never heard of this before.

"Yes he did, he said that he was going around to meet the families of his new genins while you weren't home. Didn't he tell you?" Saki asked a little confused.

Sakura should have known that Kakashi was looking up on them when they had first formed Team 7, or at least she wasn't surprised by this. And that had to have been a lie, as Naruto and Sasuke had no family at that point. Suddenly an idea came to Sakura, Naruto had never had a family home cooked meal in his life she bet. This was the perfect thing to give Naruto, plus she had never invited him over before.

"Actually mom you gave me an idea, you think I can invite Naruto over for dinner?"

Saki thought about it, she had only heard things about Naruto. At first they hadn't been too good so she had been a little worried. But then things people said had changed and she had wanted to meet him, but Sakura said that they either had missions and by the time things settled down, the boy had gone off for over two years. Sakura had been so depressed about that for the first few months, she had been wondering if maybe her daughter had feelings for the boy. She once asked but had stated that she only cared for him as a friend.

Now maybe she wasn't so sure anymore, the boy had come back and he seemed very popular lately. Also now her daughter wanted to bring a boy home to dinner? She smiled wondering if maybe her daughter had moved from her feelings for the Uchiha boy to her other teammate. She was interested to actually meet the boy in person.

"I don't think that will be an issue, I'll just make a little more for tomorrow, I don't have enough for extra tonight but tomorrow should be no problem. Besides your father will be working late tonight and I think I want him here if we have company." Saki smiled.

Sakura was delighted for this, "Thanks mom, I think I'll go find Naruto and tell him." Sakura hugged her mother before running off.

Saki just smiled as she watched her daughter go, There was obviously something going on as she had been like that with Sakura's father Mototsugu when she had been that age.

**Next up chapter 6: Grappling and Dinner and Drinking**


	6. Grappling, Dinner and Drinking

**Unforeseen Consequences**

**Chapter 6: Grappling and Dinner and Drinking**

Tsunade wasn't sure what she was feeling as she led her teammate and oldest friend and her secret love, to her home. It wasn't what you would think for Hokage, her home was actually her family's home that she had inherited. It was a three story home made of very strong wood, it was said that the First made it himself and the entire family lived in it at a time. Now it was pretty empty with the exception of her and Shizune. She remembered running through it as a child living with her parents and her grandfather and granduncle.

That had been a lifetime ago, now it was largely empty and she would most likely leave it to Shizune or Naruto. The place was meant for families to live in and she was too old to start now. It was one of the things she worried about with Shizune and now Sakura. The two looked up to her but both hadn't had many male callers it would seem. At least Sakura was making an attempt but as far as she knew, Shizune was still single. For a woman in her thirties she had better start soon, life as a ninja was short and she didn't want Shizune to end up like she had.

"What's up?" Jiraiya asked. "You looked a little sad there for a moment."

She cursed her lack of control on her face when her mind had wondered. "Just the ghosts of the pasts."

He nodded with her and she was glad for it, he would understand what she was getting at, maybe not exactly but he would know what she had been doing at least. When you get to be their ages, you start to think back on life and reflect on things. Some people became 'haunted' by their past, so he could understand given he himself had spent a lot of time with his own 'ghosts'.

They went into the quiet home, Shizune was most likely asleep already as the poor girl worked herself hard all day. Tsunade really wished that Shizune would take a day off now and then, every time she did the young woman kept giving her excuses. How was she to get a personal life if she kept on working all the time? The phrase 'youth is wasted on the young' came to mind, and it wasn't until now that Tsunade got the full meaning. She led him into the den as she went looking for the good stuff. Her mouth was watering just thinking of the burning liquid that would be in her mouth.

She came back to see Jiraiya had settled on the couch, normally she would have taken a chair but this was of course not what she had planned. She sat right down next to him, putting the drinks on the table, she caught his surprised look before he quickly hid his expression.

"So you said something about Naruto?" Jiraiya asked as he took his drink.

Tsunade smiled as she remembered that, "Seems like Naruto has got a couple of young ladies after him."

Jiraiya chuckled, he thought as much from what Naruto had told him. "Let me guess, those two girls that you trained who were fighting?" He saw her surprised look. "Talked to him before I came to see you, I had a feeling what was going on and he's clueless as usual."

He sighed as he took his drink, it burned but the taste was great. "That boy just doesn't understand a woman's heart unfortunately."

Tsunade felt that was the perfect opening for her.

Tsunade smiled as she leaned in closer to him, she gave him a smile that he had seen on many women. Usually with them trying to seduce some more money out of him. He never thought he would live to see this day. He looked into hose brown eyes and didn't see the usual friendliness, the fury, or anything else he normally saw.

He saw something else in her eyes, a longing in them for something else. This wasn't the Hokage at the moment, this wasn't his oldest friend and teammate this was Tsunade the woman in front of him. A woman that had deep scars on her heart and soul, that had loved and lost and been burned badly by it. He could see, in that moment, just what lay under her touch shell. Someone that wanted to be loved again but was afraid to, or at least had been afraid to.

"Tsunade, what's going on here?" He asked her seriously as he looked into her eyes with the longing of a lifetime. "Please, don't tease an old man."

She smiled at him as she pressed up against him gently as a hand went to his cheek. He nearly groaned at the slight touch of her hand, usually the only way he could get her to touch him, was to make her pissed. He had wanted for her to touch him like a woman would touch a man for so long.

"Do you think an old woman can make up for her mistakes of the past?" she asked him. "I know that I've made some mistakes but one that I want to correct is one I think it way overdue. That is, if you want me to."

Jiraiya felt his heart quicken, he had been with women before, it was his job to get information anyway possible. But no one had even come close to making him feel as he was now, he felt like a teenager again. Like he was alone with his first girlfriend in her home while her parents were out, he hadn't felt like this in so long he had forgotten it.

"I've wanted this for so long…" He said in a whisper as he let his own mask drop. She could see the longing in him the pain he must have carried for never having what his heart wanted most in the world. She was so sorry for that pain as she had never wanted to hurt him like that, she had just been too scared to open up again. She could also see something else in him, love. He loved her, maybe he always had loved her and it was amazing and frightening at the same time.

"I know," She told him moving even closer. "You know…I hope in the next book, that you'll make it so that Akihiko and Mitsuru get together."

Jiraiya paused for a bit as he was wondering what she meant, then it clicked. Those were characters from his books in fact they were two of the mentors of the main character. She had read his books, and she had figured out that he based Akihiko on himself and Mitsuru on her.

"You read them?" He never thought she would once even look at his books.

She blushed a little, "I was curious I think that's when I first started to fall for you. Those words you wrote about them, about how Akihiko felt for Mitsuru…I never knew you could be that way."

He felt a bit embarrassed about that, "I…could never actually say the words, they always came out fine on paper but I just couldn't say them."

She touched his lips with her fingers as she moved in closer he could feel her hot breath on his face. "Then, let's not use words."

Their lips met and for Jiraiya he could have died happy at that moment, this moment was something he had been waiting for, for decades. Her lips were still soft and he could taste the drinks on her mouth. He pulled her to him and she actually giggled as he did so. She adjusted herself on his waist as the kiss went into a more passionate embrace. All the years, all the build up emotions that they both had to keep locked up, came out of them like a flood.

Tsunade felt his kisses going to her neck as she pulled him close, it had been a lot easier than she thought to get him, but then again he obviously had been waiting for a very long time for this. She felt a shiver run down her spine and kicked herself for not opening up sooner to him. She felt him undoing her top and that's when she realized where they were.

"Wait, not here. What is Shizune comes down?" she asked him.

"Well then we'll just have to change locations," He grinned as he easily picked her up making her give a surprised yelp as he carried her bridal style.

"I can walk you know."

"This is more fun, besides you have any idea how many times I've fantasized about this?" He smiled as he started to carry her. "Now where is your room?"

**-Next Day-**

Ino was already waiting for Naruto in his team's training area, when she had found him earlier that morning she had managed to catch him and ask him for the training he promised. He had seemed happy about that, she knew that he loved to train with his friends for a few reasons. One being that he had trained alone for most of his life it wasn't until Team 7 when training started with others. He was also obsessed it would seem with training, for him, it was something fun. That was something Ino just could never understand, but that was Naruto for you.

She had thought about wearing something a bit more sexy, but honestly she didn't want to come off as a slut or something. Besides, her usual ninja attire was good enough for both the training and the sexy bit. With the short skirt and all the skin she was showing off how could it fail? She remembered her mother's and father's reaction to her change of clothing. They hadn't been comfortable with their daughter going out like this but she was growing up into a woman and needed to express herself.

"Hey there Ino-chan!" Naruto yelled out as he waved to her with that large bright smile of his.

She couldn't help but smile back as she waved Naruto's happiness was always infectious. He just had this warm personality that you just wanted to wrap around you and never be without it. How had such a guy stayed single all this time? Well, the fact he had been kind of immature earlier, he hung out with perverted teachers, and a few more incidents. She still remembered that one mission with him to get a princess married to her arranged husband. That had been the worse mission of her life, and not to mention an incident with Naruto that she never wanted to speak of again.

Okay, so maybe it was moments like that, that had blinded to the other side of him for all this time. But she was willing to overlook his negatives and now saw all the wonderful positive things about him.

"Hope I didn't keep you waiting long." Naruto said grinning.

"No I haven't been here long," Ino smirked at him. "So what's up first?"

First they did some warm ups and some stretching to get their bodies ready, Naruto then said that a light spar would help him understand her fighting style better. He had seen that fight with Sakura but in this they wouldn't use any ninja tools, or anything other than taijutsu skills. Ino had to admit that Naruto had become a better fighter since he left. She remembered when he used to just fly into a fight with no real technique behind it, he had basically just brawled into fights.

"You've really improved Naruto," Ino said as they took a break.

Naruto was proud someone had noticed, "Yeah, Ero-sennin trained me in taijutsu a lot those years, he said I really needed to refine my fighting skills."

"Well it shows," she told him honestly. "So you think you can show me some moves?"

Naruto spent the next hour teaching her a few punches and kicks, with some follow up combos. Ino had learned a few new tricks that she couldn't wait to use on Sakura in their next spar. She would be in for a surprise that was for sure. Next they moved into more grappling moves for her training. She didn't know much about them, as she had never trained in this type of fighting. She as a distance fighter and when she got in close she knew the basics but nothing beyond that.

It wasn't as easy as she thought it would be, apparently grappling was very complicated and you had so many counters for every move. They went slow as they went into the motions and practiced them. Ino had to admit that having him this close and touching her was very nice. She noticed how nervous he was when his hands had to touch and the times he blushed as well. But Ino found out that he was a good teacher as well, he made it simple and easy to learn.

For the next two hours they trained and by the end, Ino felt like she had learned a lot

"Alright let's see what you've learned," Naruto told her as they had finished with the grappling lessons. Naruto always enjoyed training with someone, but this was the first time he was actually teaching. Well, other than what he taught Konohamaru, but those were different. This was with a friend that wanted his help. He got into a ready pose as he waited for Ino to start things off, she came at him very quickly as he launched out a punch.

He dodged with a half-step and grabbed her wrist and quickly tried to her it behind her back for an arm lock. Ino felt her arm being twisted back so she quickly did a modified cartwheel to untwist it. She grabbed his own wrist to get him into a reversal. Naruto quickly countered and on that went, each time they went for a joint lock they would find the other would counter. Eventually Ino thought she had him, that is until she felt his foot hook the back of her ankle. The next thing she knew, she was falling to the ground with him on top of her.

He had her wrists pinned as he was over her smiling at his victory, she paused panting as she took a moment to enjoy the situation. He had some sweat on him and he was breathing hard, he looked very sexy to her in that moment. She felt totally under his power and given how close they were, she wanted him to slowly go down and kiss her, like in some romantic moment she had seen countless times in the movies. The hero would be over his lady and they would slowly start to kiss. Her face blushed as the mental images of this situation brought out in her, they were alone and anything could happen.

Naruto took Ino's pausing as a sign that she was giving up he grinned down at her noticing the red on her face. He just thought that she was just flushed from working hard, not of the many different fantasies that were playing through her mind at the moment. "That was very good Ino-chan, but looks like I won."

'_Oh really?'_ Ino's mind came back from fantasy land as she heard that. If there was anything that Ino didn't like it was losing, she suddenly got an idea on how to turn the tables on Naruto.

"You know if anyone saw us like this, they might think we were up to something perverted," She said sweetly to him. She slowly raised one of her knees up getting ready for her opening, just as she thought Naruto looked to see how they were. He blushed as his grip instantly was lost as his hands let go of her wrists. Before he could apologize, Ino capitalized and pushed up and twisted them both. Now Ino was on top of him holding him down by his shoulders.

She took time to enjoy just how strong his shoulders were before she smiled at his pouting face.

"Hey, that was cheating." Naruto said.

She just giggled, he just looked so cute when he pouted like that. She gave him one of her very sexy looks as she slowly lowered herself down against him. Naruto got more nervous as this wasn't the kind of thing he had thought would happen. He could feel her body pressing up against his, his face felt really hot too and his throat got very dry. Ino was a very good looking girl and he had never had a girl like her this close to him like this.

"All is fair in love and war," She told him in a husky tone. "Besides you should be prepared, if you're not comfortable around women they could take advantage of you like I just did."

Naruto never thought about it, it was true that he didn't have any experience with girls. Hell he had never even kissed one before and this was the closest he ever got without being hit. Although he had to admit, it felt really nice.

Ino felt she had enough fun with him for the moment and gently got off him, she offered him a hand as she helped him up. "Thanks for the training Naruto I really enjoyed it and I hope we can do this more often," Ino said to him honestly.

"Sure, I'd like that Ino-chan, you're getting really strong!" He grinned at her.

She smiled at the compliment and she decided to reward him for helping her. So Ino got close to him as again he got a confused look on his face. Then she gave him a quick kiss on his cheek, making his eyes nearly bulged out of his head as his cheeks blushed a lot from it. He had never had a girl kiss him on the cheek, well when he was awake that was. He still had that picture of the Princess Yukie, but he hadn't been awake while resting in the hospital when she had.

"Hey are you doing anything tonight?" Ino asked hoping that he was free.

"Tonight?" Naruto thought but then he remembered his promise to Sakura. "Oh sorry I can't, Sakura-chan invited me over for dinner with her family. But I'm free tomorrow afternoon if you want to get together."

"Oh...okay then," Ino kept a neutral expression on her face when he told her that. They made plans to meet up later in the afternoon tomorrow. She watched him leave as she thought of what he had told her. There was only one thing that Ino could think of when he told her that Sakura had invited him over.

'_Damn, why the hell did Forehead have to think of that? That would have been a good idea, now I'll have to work even harder to get his attention. Well I'm not losing!'_

Ino dusted herself off and went home to shower, change and plan her next move.

**-That Evening-**

Naruto was a little nervous, in all his life he had never, not once been asked over to a friend's house for dinner. It was really a new experience for him, a bit of him was scared that Sakura's parents would be like those that thought of him as nothing than the demon. Then again, he had never met Sakura's parents, he didn't know much about her family now that he thought about it.

'_Man, all this time asking her out for dates and stuff, how come I never got to actually know Sakura-chan?'_ He thought to himself. Maybe they would have gotten to know more about each other if they both had been more open as kids. She had been too busy chasing Sasuke, and he had never liked to talk about his life. He always bragged on how great he was, or was going to be, but never about his past. Well, on the off chance that her parents didn't hate him, he wanted to make a good impression.

He had quickly showered and changed into his civilian clothing, the black shirt with the spiral on it, but with some decent pants to go along with it. He wasn't sure if he was to dress up or not but Sakura had told him it wasn't formal. Still he tried to look his best. He kept walking until he found Sakura's home, she lived in a building that the lower part was some kind of merchant store. He saw plenty of items but they looked more like stuff you buy for you home. Thinks like a vase, full scale mirrors with gold trim, lamps, a few TV sets and such. He couldn't make out much but the Haruno store looked pretty decent.

Maybe that was another reason he had never met her parents, this wasn't the kind of store he went into. Hell, he still had all his original furniture since the Third had given him his old apartment. At any rate he found a door that would most likely lead to the living area above the store. He pressed the ringer and hoped he was on time. After a few seconds the door opened and he smiled to see Sakura there.

"Hey there, good timing Naruto. Come on up," Sakura led him up a flight of stairs and he came into what looked like a small area where you put away shoes, coats and stuff. He kicked off his shoes and followed her into a living room. It wasn't a bad place as he looked around, you could see that it was very well lived in. Pictures lined the walls, items with sentimental value were placed in plain site, and very well clean. It was the total opposite of his place on so many ways.

"Why don't we sit down, mom is just finishing up and dad is finishing his inventory." Sakura told him and for a moment was wondering if they should be in seats or take the couch.

'_**Take the couch then we can sit together with him, maybe even sit right against him!'**_ Inner Sakura's voice rang out. Since Sakura was much more outgoing her inner persona hadn't much to say at times. Although she usually ignored her inner voice, this time she might actually take it.

"Come on, we'll take the couch," she said feeling a little heat on her cheeks.

Naruto felt himself blush at the thought of sitting so close to Sakura in that kind of setting. He nodded and the two sat down, only a few inches separating them. Thoughts of earlier with Ino ran into his mind, how close he had been with her and then how at the end she had actually kissed his cheek. The blushed a little heavier at that, he still hadn't figured out why she had done that. Meanwhile Sakura didn't like the silence and decided to start a conversation.

"So how was your day? Anything interesting today?" She asked him smiling.

"Oh yeah, me and Ino-chan were training today," he smiled back at her.

Sakura's smile was frozen in place as she heard that, "Oh…really…how was it?"

"It…went really well," Naruto felt himself blushing again as he tried not to remember the more physical parts of it. But it wasn't easy, he never knew that Ino had such soft skin, or how it felt when she pressed her chest against his body.

Sakura could see his reaction, obviously Ino had tried something with him, well whatever she had done she wouldn't lose. She felt her nerves being overridden by her jealousy as she got closer so their bodies touched. It was only after his arm brushed up against his that her comment sense kicked in and realized that maybe she shouldn't be so impulsive.

"_**To hell with that! It's not being impulsive and thinking too much which made you waste too much time!"**_ Inner Sakura shouted out.

Naruto noticed how close she was and felt his body heating up, where girls always like this when they got older? He remembered when Ino and Sakura would have nothing to do with him when they were all younger, now both were getting very physical with him, not that he was complaining. It would just get some getting used to. Thankfully a welcomed distraction came into the room carrying a small try with a tea set on it.

"Oh I thought someone was here," Mrs. Haruno said as she walked into the room and set the tea set on the table. "So you must be Naruto that I've heard so much about."

"You've heard of me?" Naruto blinked in surprise.

"Why of course, Sakura talks about you often you know." She said smiling at them as she looked the boy over. "Now I see why my daughter does."

"M-mother!" Sakura grew really red at this as her feelings were being pointed out like that in the open. Her mother just giggled a bit as she started to pour tea out for them all.

"Ah finally all that was done," a male voice said. It was Sakura's father, Motosugu Haruno. He was a tall man with a slim build he had short brown hair and was clean cut. The one thing that did stand out were his green eyes, they were exactly like Sakura's.

"Oh that's good to hear," Saki Haruno smiled. "I was afraid you would be down there still."

"Oh no I managed to get all the new inventory done, would have had it done sooner if they delivered it on time." He stretched out to get his body more relaxed and then noticed his daughter with a boy. "Ah, so you must be Naruto, nice to finally meet you."

Naruto smiled at the older man, "Thanks Mr. Haruno."

"Don't be so formal son," He laughed as he sat down. "You can call me Motosugu you know."

"And don't be afraid to call me Saki dear," Sakura's mother told him. "After all, you've been with Sakura for years now and seem to be very close, it's the least we could do."

"Oh okay, thanks then Saki-san." Naruto was feeling more at ease now. Her parents seemed really nice and he was glad to feel welcomed into their home. Eventually Naruto felt really comfortable in the Haruno home. When the meal was ready they all sat down at a nice table. The parents were at either head of the table and Naruto and Sakura sat across from each other.

Naruto looked at all the food, he did eat other things than ramen now and then. A few things he didn't know what they were but they looked good. He couldn't help but get a nice large portion for himself, when he started to eat he couldn't help but like it. Apparently Sakura's mother was a really good cook.

"Wow, this is great!" Naruto said after a few mouthfuls.

"Why thank you, and you seem to have a very healthy appetite." Saki said seeing how much the boy was eating. She was wondering if the boy ever ate anything at all, then again he was at that age, when boys ate a lot and seemed to gain nothing.

"Yeah, Naruto has always had a big stomach, especially for ramen," Sakura giggled glad that Naruto was eating normally and not wolfing it down like he sometimes did while at the ramen stand.

"I used to be like that at his age," Sakura's father said laughing, "Although I grew out of it, since I started to put on too much weight I had to stop."

"Not a problem for me, with all the training I do I pretty much burn it all off," Naruto grinned his fox like grin.

Sakura smiled as she saw his playful grin, she had seen it many times but she had never taken the time too really look at him. It was actually very cute looking, she was looking a little too long as Naruto noticed her staring.

"Huh, something wrong Sakura-chan?" He blinked in confusion.

"N-nothing!" She quickly went back to her meal hoping he didn't notice the blush forming on her face that she could feel. What she didn't notice was her parents noticing if, they shared a secret look but said nothing on the subject.

Over the course of the dinner the Haruno family would ask Naruto questions as he did the same. They learned a bit about each other that night. Naruto learned that Sakura's family hadn't been here the night of the Kyuubi attacked. They had been on a trading mission and only got back after it, Saki hadn't wanted to go but her husband didn't want to leave his pregnant wife behind. It ended up being very lucky for the both of them. Also a lot of the merchandise he had gotten had been very helpful to the village after the attack.

Sakura's parents also learned a bit more about Naruto, how he planned to be Hokage one day, they learned that he was very close to the Tsunade and Jiraiya, like the rumours had said they were. Although they were surprised at how he got away with the nicknames he gave them. Sakura and Naruto would go into a few of the more pleasant stories, sometimes even finishing each other's sentences at their shared experiences.

Overall, for Naruto it was the first time he truly felt what it was like to be part of a family. Sure it wasn't really his family, but Sakura's parents made him feel welcome in their home. All his life he had wondered what a family dinner was like, he felt a bit of pain at the loose of never having this growing up. But that was soon replaced with the joy of actually experiencing it. He was always one to focus on the positive, and not the negative after all.

He felt very happy and a part of him didn't want it to end, but he knew it had to eventually.

When it was time to leave he made his farewells.

"I hope you come again Naruto," Sakura's mother said to him smiling. "It was very nice having you over so I hope that Sakura invites you more often."

"Really?" Naruto's face lit up at this.

"I don't see why not," Sakura said taking his hand. "Come on, I'll show you out."

As they left both Sakura's father and mother watched the two of them leave with knowing smiles on their faces.

"They do make a nice couple," Her mother said.

He nodded, "He seems like a good kid, plus he makes sure that our daughter keeps coming home. Can't fault a boy for something like that." He said holding his wife it was always scary whenever Sakura left for a mission. Each time they wondered if today was the day they would be told she had been killed. But meeting Naruto, helped to put their minds at ease.

Naruto was all smiles when he got to the front door with Sakura, "Thanks for everything Sakura-chan, this was a great night."

She was happy that she had made him happy, "It's no problem and if you ever want to do it again don't be afraid to ask okay?"

She noticed something change with his smile, it wasn't the broad one that lit up a room. It was small but it seemed to pack more emotion into it. His eyes got this look in them as well, the joyous look was replaced with something else, something she had never seen in his eyes before. She hadn't noticed just how expressive his blue eyes were, or how lovely they were. Thinking on it, she had never seen eyes like Naruto's anywhere else, never that shade of blue or the intensity they held.

"Thank you." He said in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

She felt that this was a side of Naruto that he kept hidden, that part of himself that he didn't show because it would only be a burden to those around him, at least in his mind. Her heart ached for what he must have endured in life to hide this side of him. Before she knew what she was doing she leaned forward and going slightly on her toes she planted a small kiss on his cheek. The same cheek that Ino had kissed earlier.

Naruto was bright red now as Sakura had just kissed him, twice in one day two good looking girls had just kissed him. He noticed a slightly shade of red on her cheeks now, it really made her looks really cute for some reason.

"You're welcome," she told him as she quickly went back inside and closed the door. She rested her back against it as her heart was hammering in her chest. She couldn't believe she had just did that, she had just given Naruto a small kiss, sure it wasn't on the mouth or anything but was it too forward? Although she did feel a smile growing on her face as she felt the emotions of kissing Naruto, it felt right to her.

Naruto just stared at the door totally stunned. It was a full minute before he realized that he should be getting home. Although on the walk home the images of Ino and Sakura kept running through his mind, the way that he had been noticing Ino, the warmth of being welcomed in Sakura's home, and the kisses at the end of each one. His hand went up to his cheek as he felt the lingering sensation of his last kiss fading. He had no idea what was going on, but there was something going on and he was going to find out.

**Next up Chapter 7: Searching for Answers**


	7. Searching for Answers

**Unforeseen Consequences**

**Chapter 7: Searching for Answers**

It was the next day and Naruto went through his usual routine when he got up, he hadn't really slept all that well because his mind kept racing. So even with only five hours of sleep he woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep. So he just got up anyway, he sat down in the kitchen as his breakfast was cooking. His mind kept playing back to when Ino and Sakura kissed him on the cheek. They both felt really nice to him but was he supposed to feel nice about it? Were they just being friendly to him or was it something more? After all they had been a lot nicer lately for some strange reason but maybe that was just part of it.

But the fact was that he just didn't know, even with nearly three years being around Jiraiya he didn't know much about girls. Then again that was because he kept trying to make Naruto do things he wasn't ready for and most of the things were perverted so Naruto had just tuned him out to get to more training from him. Now he was wishing he had paid more attention to his lessons on women, although there were still things he wouldn't want to try if a second chance.

On his fifteenth birthday, Jiraiya had tried to get him into a brothel. Of course Naruto had no way to know exactly what that was until he had stepped inside. He had seen the room full or beautiful women in clothing that was either very provocative to just down right slutty. When Jiraiya explained what the place was for and why they were there, Naruto had ran out of the building faster than any point in his life. Okay sure there had been that temptation but he wanted his first time mean something, well okay, he wanted his first time to be with Sakura, but still he didn't want to have just some random woman paid to sleep with him.

But despite that, he had very little experience with girls. He never understood them and they seemed to get angry or act weird around him. Like how Hinata always stuttered, played with her fingers and fainted. He always thought that she was that weird and strange girl while in school. It wasn't until he got to know her that he saw her as more than that, but in all honesty he didn't know much about her. He thought of the other girls he knew and how little he knew about them.

Tenten was on Team Gai, she was into weapons, seemed to be the sensible one and liked her hair in those buns but other than that, he didn't know much about her. Temari was Gaara's brother, had a temper when she lost it, can be kind of scary and used wind and that fan, but nothing else came to mind. Looking through all the women he had met, he never knew much about their personal lives.

So far he knew a lot more about Sakura, only because of that dinner last night. He had learned more about her in those few hours then he had in the years he had known her.

But still, he had no idea what to do now. He came to the decision that he needed help.

Naruto went to the Hokage's tower, if anyone could help him understand women, then another woman could help. So Tsunade was the first on his list, he jumped across buildings and decided on the window on his choice of entry. If she couldn't help, well he could always ask Jiraiya. He had been a little helpful before and if anyone knew where the old hermit was, then she could help him out with that at least. He didn't have time to go through the normal way anyway. But he was disappointed to see that Tsuande wasn't around, he did see Shizune working hard at the desk. In fact she was working a lot harder than normal.

'_Heh, I bet Tsunade-baachan is hung over and Shizune-neechan is covering again,' _Naruto thought as he came up to the woman.

Shizune had an earthly beauty about her, she wasn't stunning but she was pretty, it was hard to peg her down. At times she acted mature and cool headed, then she would slip and be almost like a teenager. At the moment though, unknown to Naruto, she was working so hard to have something to focus on. She needed something, anything to just forget what happened.

"Hey Shizune-neechan!" Naruto yelled out startling the older woman.

She jumped out of her sheet with a yell to see Naruto, "Please don't do that!"

The boy only laughed a bit, "Sorry, anyway have you seen Tsunade-baachan or even Ero-sennin?"

Shizune's face got fully red at that, she looked a little shaky as well and Naruto thought she might be coming down with something. "Hey are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine, nothing happened!" Shizune yelled out.

"Huh, nothing happened?" Naruto asked confused looking at the older woman that had become like an older sister to him. He looked around the office, nothing seemed out of place here so if there was something going on it wasn't here. "Did something happen? Hey does this happen to have something to do with where Baa-chan and Ero-sennin are? They're not planning something like a mission are they?"

Shizune went pale as her mind went back to earlier that morning.

_**-Flash back-**_

Shizune had woken up to the sound of her alarm clock, with a single hit she shut the thing off and only sighed before forcing herself up. Years of living with Tsunade had forced her to get out of bed, because if she never then Tsunade would never. Her mentor was a heavy sleeper and liked to sleep in, especially if she had too much sake the night before. With a few stretches she went about her morning routine, bathroom, got a small shower to help her wake up. She couldn't help but look herself in the mirror.

Although she was thirty she looked a lot younger, she was pleased with that, but at the same time she felt like she needed to move on with her life. Lately she had seen couples and felt a hollow part inside of her; she never really had a decent long lasting relationship. Always on the move with Tsunade since she had been a young woman in her teens meant little time to put down roots. But being back home you'd think she could finally find the time.

But it wasn't easy, with her job helping Tsunade and plus the fact she was still kind of shy around men. Shizune groaned as she pushed those depressing thoughts aside. She was still young and had plenty of time for that kind of thing. So with that, she put on a robe and went to wake up her mentor and someone who was like family to her. Although there had been downsides to being under Tsunade's care and working for her, she wouldn't have changed a thing.

She gently knocked on the door, mainly because if she was in a foul mood she had a tendency to throw things. And with someone of her strength that could be anything that wasn't bolted to the floor or on fire. She waited and guessed that Tsunade was in one of her deeper sleeps.

"Tsunade-sama, it's time to get up," Shizune said but still no replay. It looked like she would have to resort to going in and waking her up physically. She opened the door but the sight she saw was something she had never believed would happen. Plus it was also a sight she wished she had never seen. There on her bed, the sheets were all thrown around and only a thing piece of cloth was just barely covering the_ two_ occupants.

Tsunade was curled up against none other than Jiraiya, both naked and both wearing smiles. Shizune froze there in pure shock, her mind had just shut down at this. Since when did this happen? How long had this been going on? And why couldn't that sheet cover him from the waist down!

She tried not to look, she really had tried, but it had just been hanging out there. She blushed and that was when Tsunade turned onto her back and she saw all the love bites on her upper body and the scratches on his chest.

"No more Jiraiya, I'm tired and sore…" Tsunade said in her sleep.

Shizune couldn't take anymore, she quickly shut the door and ran to her room and locked herself in there. She decided on another shower and to wash her eyes out. That was the absolute last thing she ever wanted to see in her life. Bloody and wounded bodies she could take, those two in that position, never. She quickly dressed and snuck out of the house, she needed to have some time to herself and focus on something, anything. She just hoped she could look the two in the eyes again.

_**-Present-**_

Naruto was starting to give her a very worried look, she had been staring into space for a full minute and she went from pale, to looking kind of green and then red. Maybe she was really sick with something after all. If she was sick then she really needed help, so he quickly grabbed her arm which got her out of her memories.

"You look really sick, come on and take me to where Baa-chan is so she can take a look." Naruto said seriously.

"EEEEEHHHHH!?" Shizune fought off Naruto's hold. "N-No! I'm fine! I'm really fine, we don't need to see Tsunade-sama!"

"You sure?" Naruto looked at her face, her color looked better but she looked to be sweating a bit now.

Shizune couldn't face Tsunade, not yet but there was also the fact that what if she was...still in bed. He fought the shudder at the return of that mental image. If they were and Naruto just barged in like he normally did, it would not end well. She had to think of something fast something to make sure that he didn't try to find Tsunade just in case.

"S-she's not even in the village," she quickly said to him. "You were right, she and Jiraiya-sama are visiting, uh...informants! Yeah, one of Jiraiya-sama's informants have information but only will give it to the Hokage. They'll be gone for a bit."

"Oh so that's it."

Shizune sighed at her lie, thankfully Naruto wasn't good at detecting lies. "I'll find Sakura or another medic just as soon as I finish up this last batch of paperwork okay?"

Naruto thought about it and nodded, he trusted Sakura to help Shizune and there were other medics. Besides he wasn't sure if Shizune was someone he could talk about girls with, she was like a sister so it would be really odd for him. Maybe he would try later when he couldn't find someone else, plus if she was sick he wanted her to get better before he threw his problems onto her shoulders.

"Well okay, I can look for someone else if they're both out of the village. I'll see you later and get well soon!" Naruto smiled as he jumped out the window.

Shizune watched him go and sighed as she collapsed into the Hokage's chair. She felt so drained and it wasn't even close to noon yet. She groaned as she rested her head on the desk, maybe it was time to finally take that vacation that Tsunade had been trying to get her to take. Just go somewhere and relax, not thinking about work, not thinking about her own lack of relationships in her life, and most importantly _not_ thinking about what she had seen this morning.

So as Naruto left the Hokage's office he was left trying to find other people he could ask for help. Kakashi was still out on a mission and wouldn't be back until tomorrow, Yamato was with him as backup apparently too. He didn't know if Yamato had any experience with women, as there wasn't much about the man he knew personally. Kakashi read all those books by Jiraiya so Naruto figured that Kakashi would know more about women anyway out of the two.

He didn't know any of his female friends enough to get their opinion on girls, or at least he wasn't comfortable with that. Since Sakura and Ino were the ones he was confused about they were out, Tenten didn't seem the 'girly' type to him. Hinata was nice but weird, she always fainted and he might even get any answers out of her if she did that again. He thought about his male friends, so far they were all single so what would they know about girls? He became a bit depressed over this, was there no one he could turn to?

He sat on the rooftop where he was thinking about it, maybe there was one person that might help. He took off for Sai's place, now although Sai had no experience in a lot of personal stuff, the guy read all about those subjects. Sure, the boy didn't always put it in the right context or misunderstood things, but it was better than nothing. And he had gotten a lot better, when they first met all he did was insult people all the time. After that failed mission to capture Sasuke at Orochimaru's hideout he had changed.

He was still clueless but he didn't use insults with people anymore.

He knocked on the door hoping he was home, the door opened to reveals Sai's pal face. He had on a neutral expression but on seeing Naruto, he switched it to his usual plastered smile. Naruto knew that Sai's smile was just something the other boy did to 'fit in' more with others. Although at times he had seen Sai really smile, he wondered just how much Sai could feel at times. Sure Naruto had been lonely growing up but Sai had it even worse, with his emotions slowly being stripped away along with whatever his real name had been. The only person Sai had had been a brother of sorts.

But since coming on Team 7, Sai had slowly been regaining everything that made a person human. He researched every part of social interactions it was that part that Naruto hoped that could help him out.

"Ah, Naruto what can I do for you?" Sai asked.

"Actually I was kind of hoping you could help me with something," Naruto said scratching the back of his head. "Can I come in?"

Sai moved away as Naruto stepped in, he hadn't really been in Sai's apartment all that much, maybe twice. But the place was still the same everything was neat and tidy and organized. It was also filled with Sai's drawings, sketches and paintings. There was everything from animals to landscapes, although Sai rarely drew people. That was odd to Naruto but figured that was just what Sai liked to do, and he did it very well. In fact he as kind of secretly envious of Sai, he had no real talents outside of being a ninja like Sai. Well, there were his pranking skills, but that was hardly the kind of thing he did anymore. In fact usually his spare time was just training, sure he relaxed now and then but he didn't have anything like what Sai did.

Naruto knew he had no talents in things like art, music or anything like that, but looking at all of Sai's painting he kind of wished he did. It might be fun to have a hobby that he could enjoy, but he just hadn't found anything he had any talent for yet.

At any rate he was getting distracted and needed to get back on track. "Hey Sai, you keep reading all those books about people and stuff still right?"

Sai had a momentary look of confusion on his face it was one of the real emotions that he knew Sai felt. "Yes, is there something you wanted in particular?"

"Yeah…see I've kind of been getting some mixed signals and I need help. Do you have books about, well, girls and stuff?" He felt really embarrassed asking about this kind of thing, especially to Sai of all people. But Sai just smiled his usual smile and went to pick up several books. Apparently he had been reading up on it.

"So what exactly is your interest?" Sai asked him. "Still trying to get Sakura to like you?"

Naruto sputtered as he tried to think of an answer, although Sai knew it already. Although he didn't understand the whole 'dating' thing, he was well aware of Naruto trying to get Sakura to go out with him. Although he never knew why, the woman was a great comrade and to have someone backing up your team. But she was too violent at times and was hard to understand. Kind of like that blonde friend of hers with the long ponytail, he thought back to Ino. That girl would act nice but could switch very quickly into violent demeanour with her teammates.

"I just need some help in understanding girls a bit," Naruto said as he looked through one of the books.

"Ah," Sai had read many books on this. "That is one of the most difficult subjects, from all the books I've read I haven't seen any book totally agree with the other."

"What, really?" Naruto started to feel a bit disappointed now. He was hoping that maybe there would be a book that could explain everything, but if what Sai said was true, then how could he trust any of the books to give him the right answer.

"This sucks, why do girls have to be so hard to figure out!?" Naruto sighed as he dropped his head. "Man I'll never get those two then."

Sai blinked as he thought about what Naruto just said. At first he thought that Naruto was here only because of Sakura, but that last statement meant more than one woman was involved. This was very interesting he had little chance to observe complex emotional relationships in the flesh. "Are you having trouble with two women in particular?"

Naruto nodded his head, "Yeah, lately Sakura and Ino have been acting strange with me. They've both been pretty nice and even have been hanging out with me more." He went into how everything had been differently lately. How Ino had sparred with him, how Sakura took him to her home for a nice dinner, but then how both had kissed him on the cheek.

Sai thought about all of that, he thought about all that he had read in his books on the subject of girls and relationships. The sudden change in attitude of the girls was odd, plus was kissing significant? He knew that a kiss could be anything from just friendly to acts of affection. He had read that a man and a woman that have been together for long periods could develop feelings for each other, so that could explain that Sakura might have romantic feelings that had developed. But Ino was something he wasn't sure on.

Ino he had only met a few times so whatever could have caused her to act differently?

"It certainly is difficult, why not just confront them?" Sai figured the frontal approach was best.

"W-well what if they just see me as a friend and I just make things weird?" Naruto was worried about that. Well not so much with Sakura, he had been trying to date her for years but she just brushed it off. Ino was a good friend and he didn't want to make a fool out of himself again.

Sai just shrugged, he wasn't sure what to say exactly. "Why do you want to be with them, I mean is there any kind of attraction to them?"

Naruto looked at Sai like he had grown a second head and it started to sing show tunes. "Are you kidding? Sakura-chan and Ino-chan are two of the best looking girls in the village. Didn't you call Ino-chan gorgeous the first time you met her?"

In fact Naruto was a little weary of talking to Sai about Ino, if he thought she was good looking would he try to help him out? What if he wanted Ino for himself, but then again he didn't know how Sai felt about Ino anyway.

Sai remembered that meal at the BBQ place with Team Asuma, "Actually I found that when I tried to give nicknames to people on their attributes they get angry, so I picked the opposite."

Naruto blinked a few times, remembering how he used to call Sakura an 'ugly hag' and if what he said was true, then he thought that Ino was ugly as well? What the hell did this guy look for in a girl!? Both were beautiful so how could anyone consider them anything but that. "What the hell do you find good looking in a woman then?!"

Sai thought about it and shrugged, "I don't know, I haven't found it yet." He gave that same smile as always and Naruto felt like more pissed off then anything by it.

**-Elsewhere-**

Sakura was shopping for some new clothing, if she wanted to really entice Naruto she realised she might need something more than her usual wear. She had worn sensible clothing all her life but maybe she needed to be less conservative. Plus she really didn't have any real 'date' clothing, and that needed to be changed. She also had no idea what Ino-pig was up to, Ino had always been the one that had been more comfortable with her looks and with flaunting it. Sakura looked in the mirror of the changing room she was in, she frown at her two setbacks. One was her forehead; sure it wasn't that noticeable but being picked on so much because of as a child left her insecure about it.

The next point however was as she looked down, although she wasn't a total flat chest like she used to be, she hadn't really gained much either. Standing with other girls her own age she felt a little cheated, but was Naruto a breast girl? The fact was she wasn't sure what he liked in a girl, he liked her for so long but she never did figure out why. She had been horrible to him, like all the other girls had been, but he kept coming back for more. She would have to ask him that, as well as ask for forgiveness.

But at least she had other things going for her, her bright green eyes and pink hair gave her a very unique look. She wasn't fat, she was actually very slim and slightly athletic now. She hoped that there was still time with Naruto. It was true at first she hadn't liked him at all, she had been too focused on Sasuke like all the other girls. But as time went by she learned that Naruto was a very good friend and also a great teammate. After Sasuke left, she only had Naruto to help her through it all, he kept trying to make her smile and she remembered how she tried to leave the village. He ended up following her to help her get Sasuke back.

Looking back on it, it had been a very stupid idea. They both nearly became missing nins because of that stunt and it was only thanks to Jiraiya that they had an official mission to find the Sound Village. The mission didn't go well but it was then that she learned two things. First was that Naruto despite his faults, was a really great person and someone she could depend on and made her feel better about herself. The next was to finally take being a ninja seriously and she had asked to train under Tsunade as soon as they got back. When Naruto left for his own training, she missed him every day. When he came back she had been overjoyed, like a missing piece had returned to her life. It wasn't until Ino started to chase him that she realised something she had kept hidden, even from herself.

She wasn't sure when she started to like Naruto more as a friend, but she knew she did. It took seeing another girl that could take that away from her that made her make a move of her own.

Meanwhile another known blonde was doing the same thing, Ino however did have some nice clothing for dating but she had never really used any of it. Despite being so sure of herself sexually and in her beauty she hadn't dated once. Oh sure she had been interested in boys, first Sasuke but when he left she had to let those feelings go. So she focused on her ninja training more, and time with her team as well as looking after the flower shop. When she met Sai, she thought she found a very interesting cute guy, he even called her gorgeous. Why Sakura blew up at that, she still had no idea but whatever.

Although she had tried to talk to him, the boy was strangely distant, not like Sasuke was. He had been cold, but Sai was just something different, not cold more like he was just...the only thing she could think of was slightly out of reach. Like Sai was someone on the outside looking in at everyone. It was odd but after trying he didn't really seem at all interested in her, she didn't any vibes off him. She might still be trying to get that boy even still to notice her until she went into Naruto's mind.

That had changed everything, especially how she saw Naruto.

Well she wasn't going to lose this time, she was now looking at a killer new dress that she wanted to use with Naruto. She had lost too much ground to Sakura and it was time to really get things moving. She was currently in a green Chinese style dress with golden patterns on it with a high collar. There were no arms to it, so her arms were totally bare. The slit on the side went high, showing off one of her long shapely legs. It was perfect for her so she would take it. She undressed and put her normal clothing on as she was prepared to pay for it. Ino pulled open the shade and stepped out, just as the person in one of the stalls next to her walked out.

Both women were surprised to see the other and both cursed whatever luck there was working against them.

"Forehead," Ino said to Sakura.

"Ino-pig," Sakura said back just as calm.

The girls glared at each other as the long time rivalry kicked in, even as friends they still didn't like to lose to the other. So now they were both in a bit of a staring contest, that is until Ino saw what Sakura had and smirked. It would seem that Sakura had similar plans for the future.

"Oh shopping for new clothing, why would you ever want to do that?" Ino said slyly.

"I could say the same to you," Sakura said in retort seeing the dress. "Aren't you afraid to show a little too much in such a daring thing?"

"I only needed a dress, by the looks of you, you needed a full wardrobe," Ino smirked at the bag filled with new clothing. "I don't see why you needed all that, I've just needed one nice dress, I've kept my closet up to date for other things then being a ninja. You never know when a cute guy will come along."

'_Ha take that Pinky,'_ Ino smirked at the job to Sakura's zero track record in dating. But Sakura wasn't going to be the only one to pull on that card.

Sakura just shrugged as though it was nothing, "Well I was concentrating on being a real ninja and to become strong. Besides, since when have you ever been on a date? Last I saw you tried to get Sai to notice you and how did that turn out?"

'_Back at you pig!'_ Sakura smirked at the blonde.

Both girls stared coldly at the other not either one budging from their spot.

"I'm not going to lose to you, this time," Ino said with a small smile, this one wasn't one of malice. This was a pure challenge to a friend and rival. "I may have gotten behind you as a ninja, but I'm catching up. I also plan not to lose to you in love either."

Sakura returned the smile, "Good, but I won't make this easy you know."

No longer hostile, the girls attitudes quickly changed the kind that only other women would be able to understand. To any male looking they wouldn't be able to see how two women could be at each other's throats one minute and totally changed the next. It was just another reason why men would never totally understand the mind of a woman.

"I know," Ino told her with a nod. "That's why I'm going to do my best, besides he's worth it."

Sakura gave a slight smile as she thought of Naruto and how the dinner with her family had been. It had been a very relaxed and fulfilling moment. Her family liked him and the entire night had felt just right to her, like he fit in perfectly with her life in something more than just friend and teammate.

"Yeah, despite everything he is isn't he?" Both girls giggled at the shared joke knowing full well Naruto's good and bad points. "Well then, to the next round?"

Ino nodded her head as they shook hands they learned the lessons from Sasuke. They would fight their hardest but they wouldn't destroy their friendship over it. They may fight it out, but in the end they would always maintain their friendship no matter what. They paid for their clothing and had just left the store when they heard a familiar voice.

"Oh Ino-chan, Sakura-chan, what are you two doing together?"

They turned to see Naruto walking up behind them on the road. Both girls gave each other a look, it would seem that the next round had just started and both girls wanted to get the first jump at Naruto. And poor Naruto had no idea what was to come, he had just been walking thinking on the things he read in Sai's books and his own talks with the boy. He didn't expect to run into his said problems at once, what he also didn't notice was the shadow following him.

Up in the buildings behind one of the signs was Sai, in his usual civilian clothing. He had been curious about human relationships and Naruto's problem seemed very unique. It was possible that both girls liked the boy but maybe he was reading it wrong. Human emotions were so very complicated that he ended up doing the wrong thing. Maybe by studying Naruto and the girls he could get some valuable insights. He had a small notebook with him as he was ready to make notes on what he observed.

**Next up Chapter 8: Naruto in the Middle**


	8. Naruto in the Middle

**Unforeseen Consequences**

**Chapter 8: Naruto in the Middle**

Ino and Sakura both were a little surprised to see Naruto looking at them, although Ino was quicker into action. She smiled as she latched onto his arm eagerly, "Hey Naruto, you know we were just talking about you." She made sure that she pressed her breasts into his arm, by the way he was blushing she knew that she had his attention.

"R-really?" Naruto couldn't help but feel the nice softness pressing into his arm.

"Yes we were," Sakura said as she put on her own smile and followed Ino's lead with doing the same. Although she felt her face heat up with it, she never was able to be as outgoing as Ino, but she wouldn't be left behind.

Now Naruto was really blushing, as he had in his opinion, the two prettiest girls in the village wrapped around his arms pressing up against him. He knew that he had been thinking about something while walking, but for the life of him he couldn't remember anymore. Something about the girls, but with all the blood rushing to his head to blush and then going lower in a tug of war was screwing up his ability to think clearly at the moment.

"I wanted to thank you for the training you were helping me with and also wondering if you were free?" Ino said to him.

"Hey wait a minute I was going to ask if he was free." Sakura narrowed her eyes at her friend-rival. "After all we're teammates and with all the missions we've had lately, Naruto and I, haven't any real time to hang out."

"But you two go on missions all the time, so you get to see each other more. I hardly see Naruto at all since we're on different teams. What do you say Naruto, will you keep me company for a bit?" Ino smiled up at him, all the while grinning in her mind. If Sakura wanted to spend more time with him, she was going to have a fight on her hands. Ino needed more time with Naruto to make sure the boy knew he had other options to him now. Although given how thick he was at times, she knew it wouldn't be easy. But she really did want Naruto to look at her as more than a friend.

He had this warmth about him, and she had felt the kinds of emotions he had in his head. He had felt his feelings for Sakura, both the longing and the sadness when she hadn't noticed him at first. A boy that could feel as deeply as she knew he could, was rare and she wished to have someone who thought of her like that. It was true, that both she and Sakura had been fools when younger but now they both wanted to have that same boy. Only this boy wouldn't reject them, this boy would open his heart fully to whoever could get it.

Sakura for her part didn't want Ino to get too much of a head start and she knew one thing that Naruto couldn't say no too. "Well I was going to ask him to get some ramen with me, as a treat for how hard he's been working lately."

"What, really?" Naruto's head turned to Sakura so fast it might he snapped the neck of someone else.

Ino narrowed her eyes, _'Oh so that's how you want to play it then huh? That was a low blow girl, but I can play just as dirty as you can.'_

"Awww, I was going to take Naruto there, and I was even thinking of paying for it too," Ino whined but in a more cute way. Thankfully with working at the flower shop she had a second income. True, it didn't pay like a ninja's pay could at times but it certainly helped her to save money. She would need that too, given how much Naruto ate and all.

Now Naruto's head turned to Ino totally surprised by that, "Really Ino? Man, only Iruka-sensei would pay for my meals, no one else really has done that for me."

"Well I could," Sakura said quickly. "After all I made you pay last time, so I should return the favour right?"

"Hey I offered first," Ino said.

"Well he's my teammate," Sakura said back.

Meanwhile up above Sai was taking some very interesting notes. At first he wasn't sure but it would seem that the girls were fighting over who he spent time with. This seemed to be with what he read, how women will fight for their man as it were. So this could indicate that they both wanted him, although it could also just be a regular argument. He noticed that Sakura and Ino had an odd relationship. They were both very friendly with each other, but at the drop of a hat they seemed to get angry with each other. It was a bizarre friendship, even though Sai was confused on most issues on friendship. He knew that he would never totally understand the one those two held.

He caught movement as all three were now moving off, apparently they had all agreed to eat together. Sai followed as he made a few notes for himself. This was very interesting to study this in person, real life experiences were much better than books. As he sat on the building next to the Ichiraku ramen stand he had a problem. He could barely see them, he could just make out the voices but he needed a bit more help. He pulled out his scroll of paper and special chakra infused ink. He created a simple mouse that he could use to help observe his friends.

Meanwhile Naruto was nearly drooling at the prospect of ramen. Although he had each girl beside him, once ramen entered the brain he pretty much pushed everything else aside. It was one the few things that Naruto's unfortunate case of having a short attention span, was negated. The girls gave their single orders to Naruto's eight, it was still a sight to see how much Naruto could eat.

After his third bowl Ino sighed, "Okay I'm envious. You can eat all that and still not gain weight, while I have to work out to keep in the shape I'm in."

"I think it's because Naruto has a heightened metabolism," Sakura said as her mind went into medic mode. "Given how fast he heals, that means his body must work overtime, so it also needs more fuel to burn."

Naruto never thought about that before, although he wasn't sure what metabolism was. He heard the word before but wasn't sure on the full meaning. It was just another thing that made Sakura so smart, she knew all kinds of things. He thought about Ino, he wondered what kind of stuff she knew. She worked in a flower store so she might know about them. He wondered at times what kind of things the girls knew that he never thought to ask about. Well it was something to think about as he dug into his new bowl of ramen.

"So Naruto-kun, you seem to have gotten a bit popular lately," Ayame teased seeing the two girls with him. She had known about Naruto's attraction to his teammate and it seemed that now only the pink haired girl was interested, the blonde girl was also interested. She remembered her name as Ino, she had come in only a few times but she was one of Naruto's friends and she made sure to remember all of those.

Teuchi cast a look over his shoulder and smirked seeing what his daughter had pointed out. He didn't envy the boy once he realised what was going on.

"Huh, what do you mean by that Ayame-niichan?" Naruto asked.

Both girls next to him sweat dropped at his clueless expression, it was a bit cute to see his face look so innocent like that. But at times being so dense it was hard to get him to see what was going on around him.

Ayame giggled as she waved it off, "Oh nothing I guess. So have you three been hanging out lately?"

Now Naruto's face lit up, "Oh yeah, Sakura-chan and Ino-chan have been really fun to hang out with lately." He failed to notice the slight blushes on the girls.

"So Naruto who is more fun to hang out with?" Ino asked as she leaned over to him.

Naruto thought about it, he hadn't thought about it like that. He only thought about how he enjoyed his time with them. "Well it's hard to say, both of you have been really nice lately to me. Oh yeah that's what I was thinking about," Naruto snapped his fingers remembering what he had forgotten about earlier.

Now he got a bit more nervous as he was wondering how to approach this. Where they just being more friendly or did one of them like him? He kind of hoped for Sakura to like him, but Ino had been on his mind lately as well. "Why have you two been a bit more friendly to me lately?"

"W-what do you mean?" Ino asked a little nervous, she wasn't sure how to handle this kind of question without telling him the truth. Telling him that she entered his mind for a prank and got stuck, leading her to see all kinds of personal memories he might not take that well. She would tell him, when the time was right after all, but not now.

"Well, we hardly ever talk or hang out that much," Naruto thought about his past with Ino. "I mean sure we went on a few missions together and seen each other, but until a little while ago we haven't hung out like we have. Plus then there's Sakura-chan being nicer to me as well."

Sakura frowned as he said it like that, "Are you saying I'm not nice?"

"N-No, I mean you've been a lot nicer since I came back and all," Naruto said in a panic, knowing the temper the pink haired girl had and the new strength behind her punches. "I mean you took me to your parents which was really nice and I can't remember the last time you hit me."

Sakura winced at that last bit, sure she had matured since he had gone and had really missed him. It was that time away that made her really appreciate Naruto in her life. She admitted she hadn't been the best while younger although she was being gentler with him lately. "Well you haven't done anything worth it. I mean you haven't done that stupid jutsu you taught Konohamaru in front of me or done anything like that."

"Jeez you shouldn't be so violent Sakura," Ino said with a sly grin as she moved a bit closer to Naruto. "I don't think men like violent women. What do you think Naruto?"

"Uh...well..." Naruto wasn't sure what to say at this point. If he said the wrong thing he could get Sakura mad, but he couldn't think of what would be the good thing to say. He quickly tried to either find the right thing to say or look or a way to change the topic.

"I'm not violent," Sakura shouted out at her. "Besides you're just as violent as I am."

"What, says who?" Ino demanded as she slammed her hands on the tabletop.

"Shikamaru and Choji for one," Sakura said to her. She had heard all the stories from Ino's teammates and although they did like Ino as a sister. The blonde girl could be very controlling and scary to the guys when she wanted to be. "I mean who wants a controlling woman?"

"I am not controlling Sakura," Ino glared at the pink haired girl as both girls only glared at each other.

The tension was so great that you could cut it with a knife, although Naruto was glad for the save now he had to deal with two violent girls. He still remembered how that BBQ place was trashed with Ino's team and his own. There was no way he would endanger the holiest of places, the Ichikaru ramen bar. He had to think of something to do to get the girls to calm down before someone threw the first blow.

"Well that was good," Naruto quickly said although he could still go for a few more bowls. He made a plan to come back later for a quick snack. "does anyone want me to walk them home?"

That got both girls attention as what they were fighting over was quickly forgotten. Both wanted to have Naruto walk them home because if one could, then they would be able to get Naruto alone. Already plans were being made with the girls as they both wanted to talk to him without the other getting in the way. So they agreed, paid for their meals and walked out. There was only one more problem, Sakura lived one way and Ino lived in the opposite direction, so Naruto was once again stuck.

"Naruto should be the one to walk me home," Sakura said politely as she could. "After all I bet my mother would love to see him again."

"Well that is nice," Ino said with a fake smile, "but he already just met them, and I wanted to show him around if he has the time. Besides I'm the one that sees him less after all."

Naruto wasn't sure why but he was feeling very awkward at the moment, both girls were giving off strange vibes and it was actually kind of scary. He had thought that he found a way out of this but now he had to choose. On the one hand, walking with Sakura was a dream come true, but he also didn't want to alienate Ino. She had been really fun to hang out with lately and he didn't want to blow anyone off. He mentally sighed, it was like trying to turn left and right at the same time again.

He thought about that as an idea hit him.

"Hey there's no reason to worry," Naruto said grinning that fox like grin of his. "Remember who you're with." He placed his hands in the cross seal as a large puff of smoke was created. There were now two Narutos, him and a shadow clone when the smoke cleared. One went with Ino and the other walked over to Sakura.

"There now I can walk with you both," one of them said. Because of the smoke the girls weren't sure which one was the real one and which was the clone. It was a solution to the problem at least so the girls decided to accept it rather than right about it.

Sai had the mouse come back to him when he noticed they were ready to leave. He laid out a blank scroll as the mouse sat in the middle of it. With a few hand seals Sai activated the special jutsu inside of the mouse. The mouse melted back into ink as an entire transcription of what everyone said was now written onto the scroll. He would use this as a reference material later on. He hadn't noticed when he was no longer alone but he felt a sudden shift behind him. He quickly turned around, ROOT training took over and if he was in his ninja gear he would have gone for the short ANBU blade he usually kept on his back. But he was in his usual black civilian clothing.

"Not bad kid, most wouldn't have noticed me until later on," Jiraiya smiled at the young pale person.

"Jiraiya-sama, I'm sorry it was just a reaction," Sai apologised.

Jiraiya waved it off, "Don't sweat it kid. I'm just here to check in on my apprentice as apparently you seem to be doing." Jiraiya picked up the school and quickly read through it. He had to shake his head, he knew just how clueless Naruto was but even without any voice tone, Jiraiya could see what was going on with just the words printed in front of him. Actually he'd have to see if he could get a copy, this could be decent material for the new book idea he had. Inspired a bit of course by last night but this would definitely help him with another plot line.

"The boy is totally clueless it seems," Jiraiya stated giving the scroll back to the youth.

"You know what is going on?" Sai asked the older man.

"Boy do you have any idea who you're talking to?" Jiraiya of course didn't mean it literally but he continued on anyway. He hopped onto one foot as he struck a pose similar to the one he used when he first introduced himself to Naruto all those years ago. "I am the Toad Sannin, the great Sage of the Toads, men fear and envy me, women swoon as they see me, I am the master of a thousand jutsus, and author of one of the greatest novels of all time. If anyone can understand the heart of a woman then I can!"

Sai blinked not sure what to make of the spectacle, "Oh…so what exactly is going on?"

Jiriaya composed himself now, "It seems that Naruto has both girls after his heart, which he'll choose is hard to say but if he doesn't figure it out soon there might be trouble later on. But at any rate I think a little more research into the subjects are in order and with you here I have the perfect way to follow them both."

He looked to see the two girls going on different directions with a Naruto with them, he could now follow one and have Sai follow the other and then compare notes. Things were certainly getting much more interesting in his life now. First the love of his life had finally accepted him, and now his prize student was having two young attractive girls fighting over him. Oh what he wouldn't give to be young again.

Ino walked with Naruto, at least she hoped it was Naruto after all it was impossible to tell the difference. But still, at least if this was a clone the original will know of the events. She knew that Naruto had learned that about the shadow clone ability while training in wind. It was odd knowing so much about Naruto like she did now. She most likely knew more about him than anyone else alive. She even experienced the memories as well, although a few of those memories would never leave her.

One would be how he witnessed death for the first time with that boy Haku (who Ino still didn't think it was within nature for a boy to be that pretty) and Zabuza. Even a cold hearted killer had found his heart thanks to Naruto. Other things like the battle with Sasuke when he left, she would never see Sasuke in the same light. She couldn't believe the boy tried to kill Naruto, plus that awful second transformation. The boy looked like a monster, Ino knew she would have nightmares of that in time.

But she didn't want to think on that, she wanted to focus on Naruto. It felt nice just walking with him, she even slipped her arm with his. He was surprised and she noticed the blush on his face but she only smiled at him. He got a bit more at ease as they walked on, oh yes, this felt very nice for her. Soon they came to her family's flower shop and she wished she lived further away, the walk was just too short for her.

"Well I guess this is my spot," Ino sighed.

Naruto only smiled at her, "You know I might need to come in and see the place on day. I bet you can tell me all about flowers and stuff."

Ino giggled as she nodded, "Oh trust me I know practically anything." She paused as she got a bit more serious. "Hey Naruto, have you ever thought about dating anyone? I mean we're all getting older and I wouldn't be surprised to see people starting to pair up soon."

Naruto shifted a bit, it was true that he liked Sakura but she hadn't said yes to an actual date. Sure he treated her to ramen once but nothing more. Well the dinner with the family might be considered one but he wasn't too sure. Plus there was another issue, would a woman be interested in him knowing his secret? How many women would be able to over look that fact he had a demon jailed inside of him?

"Well I've thought about it..." Naruto trailed off not sure what to say yet.

"Well you know I bet soon a lot of pretty girls will be after you," Ino smirked at him as he got a bit closer to him. "After all you got a lot taller and I have to say cuter since you got back."

"R-really?" Naruto blushed as he scratched the back of his head.

"Yes in fact there would be a lot of girls who might like to date you, all you should do is ask."

"Well...I wouldn't know who exactly, I don't know that many girls." Naruto said honestly. The only girls his age he knew were Sakura, Ino, Hinata and Tenten.

"So?" Ino asked him as she reached up and gently trailed a hand onto his cheek. "You should really think about it. Who knows, a girl that would say yes, might be right in front of you." She winked at him as Naruto's mind became a whirlwind of thoughts. Her hand felt very soft, he could smell the scent of a light perfume on her skin, he felt his heart beating faster.

Naruto never really thought of Ino in anything more than a good friend, but at the moment he hadn't felt like this except with Sakura. He looked at her lips and they looked soft and inviting. Ino smiled as she walked away, making sure that she put a little extra swagger into her hips. She caught him looking in the reflection of the window and smirked in victory as she noticed him staring at her.

Naruto just stood there really dumbfounded as his mind tried to process things. Then he turned into smoke as the Naruto clone was dispelled.

With Sakura the same thing was going on, well she couldn't work up the never to put her arm with Naruto's. Her mind was telling her to do it, but Sakura was a bit more shy in comparison with Ino at times. But it felt right walking with Naruto down the street, like how they had just walked together as usually but she felt something more now. Naruto was a warm presence that she just wanted to wrap around her. She hoped this was the real one as well but at any rate with Ino out of the way she could work up the nerve to really talk seriously with Naruto. There had been something eating at her for awhile now and she really needed to get it out.

"Naruto, I just wanted to say how sorry I am," She said seriously looking a little down.

"Huh? Sorry about what Sakura-chan?" Naruto couldn't remember her doing anything recently that she should feel sorry about.

"About a lot of things actually," Sakura said as she looked back on her life. "The way I treated you when we were younger. I was totally out of line a lot of the time, I was just so obsessed I let it blind me to a lot of things. I know I wasn't the best friend back then but I wanted to change and grow. When you were gone I missed you every day, some days it hurt to know that I wouldn't see you for a long time."

She smiled a sad smile now, "It wasn't until you were gone that I started to realize how much better my life was with you in it. You always could make me smile after Sasuke-kun left, in fact you tried to help me out. You've always helped me out and supported me and I wish I had done the same for you back then."

Naruto was seriously at a loss now and it took him a moment to find his voice. "Sakura-chan you don't need to say you're sorry, I've already forgotten about that kind of stuff. Plus you've already helped me out, like with those pills you made for my elemental training." He didn't mention how they tasted bad but it was the thought that counted. "And you have been with me a lot more, plus you've been super nice recently too. Plus you're my best friend and teammate, there is no way I could ever hate you for anything you've done. Plus some of things I've done have been kind of stupid and I did deserve a few of those punches."

He laughed as it was a bit true, he knew that he did stupid things at times and Sakura would straighten him out. In fact that was secretly one of the reasons he liked her, he never had anyone growing up to show him what was right and wrong. What was appropriate and what wasn't, but Sakura did those things. He was a better person because of it.

"I am sorry about a lot of things though," She blushed a bit in embarrassment.

"Well since you can't change the past, the best we can do it just learn and do better right?"

Sakura was surprised by that, "Where did you get something that profound?"

Naruto chuckled at that, "Iruka-sensei told me that once a long time ago, I didn't really get it at the time but I got it later on."

When they got to her home she felt regret, they had been having a nice conversation and she felt a bit better that he had forgiven her stupidity when she was younger. It felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, but she still wanted to improve her relationship with him, both as a friend and as something more. Maybe it was time to finally let him see that she thought of him as something more, if she didn't what if Ino took the advantage and because of that, Ino managed to gain Naruto's heart? Sakura wasn't sure she could take losing another, although at least it wouldn't hurt her like Sasuke had hurt her. Plus Naruto would still be around and her friend, but Sakura still wanted more than just friendship with him. She wanted to make him happy like how he made her happy, she wanted to make up for all those years and also give him years of happiness.

"Thank you for walking me home," Sakura said with a slight blush on her face. "You know for the longest time I thought that Sasuke-kun was the one for me."

"We'll get him back, I promised you that," Naruto said solemnly still remembering his promise to her. He always carried out his promises and whatever he felt for her, if he couldn't keep a simple promise to her than he didn't deserve her.

"I know and we will get him back even if we have to smack some sense into him," She smiled at him. "But looking back on it...I think I only want him back because he's our team member, our brother in a way."

"Brother?" Naruto asked confused, didn't she like Sasuke?

"I do love him but only as a brother now," Sakura admitted to him. She wanted him to know her feelings for Sasuke had changed over the years. "It was just a stupid crush I had on him, it wasn't real love. I know that now. But I still want to free him and I know we can do it. But lately I've been thinking that I should move on with my heart."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto felt a bit more excited now, if she didn't love Sasuke in that way anymore did that mean he finally had a chance?

Sakura nodded as her blush deepened a bit, "In fact lately I've been thinking about someone else." She saw his face and she knew that he didn't think it was him. She laughed a bit in her mind, the poor boy had some self confidence problems with girls even though he didn't have it with anything else apparently.

She walked to her door as she opened it, "I'll see you later Naruto-kun." She told him before going through it.

Naruto smiled, "Sure thing, Sakura-ch...huh, hey wait did you just call me..." He hadn't noticed it at first but she never addressed him other than his name. She never used an honorific with his name before, let alone that one. He didn't know what to think that she actually called him that, the only one she used that had been Sasuke. So did that mean that she liked him?

He suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke at that moment.

Meanwhile the real Naruto had been at the ramen stand the entire time. He still was hungry and with the shadow clones he would know what would happen. When he made them, he switched out with all the smoke and let the clones take the girls home. He was happily eating some pork ramen when one of the clones memories suddenly slammed into him. He froze at what he remembered, then suddenly the other clone's memory came as well. He froze as he tried to make sense of everything.

"Naruto-kun, are you okay?" Ayame asked seeing the look on the boy's face.

"I'm...not sure..." Naruto trailed off as he thought more and more on the memories he just got.

**-Elsewhere-**

Tsunade had finally managed to get to the tower, after last night she really wanted to sleep in. She smirked to herself, it had been so very long since she had been with a man. She had forgotten how it was like, plus despite everything, Jiraiya apparently knew what he was talking about in his books. She just knew that the old pervert would turn that night into a scene in his new book when he got around to it. Well, she didn't mind too much, it's not like anyone but her, knew of what characters were who in his books. She stretched as she walked the empty halls, she hadn't felt like this since she had been a young woman.

After waking up to a warm body beside her, she had taken a shower. Of course he insisted in joining her, not that she put up much of a fight against it. She had been a bit worried that Shizune hadn't woke her up, or maybe that she might have tried to. So after a mid-morning meal she took off for work, Jiraiya said something about checking on Naruto's progress. But he didn't leave without giving her a long kiss, she reached up to touch her lips. She swore she could still feel the heat there from it.

She really had been an idiot all these years. She sighed feeling light on her feet and happier then she had been in so many years. She had opened her heart up again to a man for the fist time since Dan's death and she didn't actually regret is this time. In fact she felt more fulfilled since she had finally opened her heart up to Jiraiya. With Dan, things had been great. He had been a solid rock for her, someone she felt enchanted by and she had been swept off her feet. With Jiraiya, things were so much different but she still felt that same kind of love. With Jiraiya, she could be herself, she felt at ease and in his arms she felt like she could just relax and let him be her whole world.

She strolled into her office seeing that some of the work had already been done. She hoped that Shizune would have taken care of some things while she had slept in. As she came to her office and opened the door she found her first apprentice working very hard at the desk. By the looks of it she was organizing the paper work. In fact she was working up a storm, that was a bit worrying to the older woman.

"Shizune, slow down there isn't any reason to work that hard is there?" Tsunade asked as she walked into the room.

Shizune jumped up but as soon as she looked up into her mentor she looked back down. She wanted to hide the blush on her face and avoid eye contact. The memories were still too fresh in her mind and she really didn't want to think about _that_ again.

"Sorry to startle you Shizune," Tsunade smiled as her assistant got up and Tsunade took her place behind the desk as she looked over the paper work. It was piled so far into priority, so she would get through the pile that needed her immediate look over before being approved. Normally she would get bored but honestly she was in too good a mood to ignore. She was wondering how Sakura was doing with getting Naruto. Now that the girl had her feelings straightened out, she couldn't help but root for her. The girl was her best protégé, Sakura had mastered things even Shizune hadn't been able to do.

Still, Sakura had some competition in Ino, that girl could be just as stubborn and tenacious when she needed to be. If she had put that kind of effort behind her medical training the girl could have been very close to Sakura's level. Although after the first year, Ino had passed the basic testing but had never gone any further. Then again, unlike Sakura who could train a lot more with her team broken up, Ino had still been on an active team.

Tsunade wasn't sure who the boy would pick, she just hoped that whoever lost didn't take things too hard. She knew what heartbreak could do to a person. For years her own heart had been stone to avoid the pain, she basically ran from her pain for decades. It was odd how it was a little genin that got past her walls and made her feel something other than the emptiness and pain in her heart. And it took an old pervert to show her that she could still find love in life.

She looked over the papers and paused, the first one in the urgent pile was a vacation approval, for Shizune. That alone made her think for two reasons, first it wasn't like Shizune to put her own personal stuff first, and second she couldn't remember the last time or even first time, Shizune took a vacation. She looked up and noticed that the young woman was a little odd. If she didn't know any better, she swore that the other woman was avoiding looking at her.

"Is there something wrong?" Tsunade asked as she looked over the vacation request. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a week long leave pass was all it was.

"I-I-I just wanted to take a break, I've been feeling very stressed lately," It wasn't a total lie for Shizune. She was stressed but she also needed to get away and just relax for once. Plus if things between Tsunade and Jiraiya kept going on as they were, she really didn't want to be around the house. Although she was delighted to see that those two were together, she knew that there was something going on between Tsunade and Jiraiya for years but Tsunade never let him have a chance. She wasn't sure what made Tsunade change her mind but she was thankful for it. Even the slight glances she managed to take she could see that Tsunade was almost glowing with happiness.

It had been a very long time since Shizune had seen her mentor look like this. But seeing the after events first hand was not something she wanted to have a memory of. So she would give the two their space and for her to just get away from it all for a short time.

Tsunade looked over the sheet and stamped her approval, it would be hectic around here without her around but the young woman deserved some time off finally. Maybe the young medic would finally find herself a man for once. She grinned at that thought and passed it to her. "Here you go and enjoy."

Shizune took it with a bow, "Thank you Tsunade-sama."

**Next up Chapter 9: Confessions**


	9. Confessions

**Unforeseen Consequences**

**Chapter 9: Confessions**

It had been a couple of weeks since Naruto have met up with the girls shopping that day, lately he was getting more confused but not about what was going on with Ino and Sakura. After what he had seen with his clones he had a pretty good idea what was going on. The rest of the time Naruto had met up with Sakura and Ino plenty of times. He continued to train with Ino, as well as hang out with the blonde girl. Naruto also spent time with Sakura just hanging out and having fun. The thing that was really weighing on the boy's mind was his own personal feelings, which was why he was spending his current time sitting on the stone head of the Fourth, in deep thought about his situation.

The thing was he was feeling great that someone actually wanted him romantically. There had been this lingering fear ever since he found out about the demon that he might never find someone. After all, what if he got into a relationship and when they found out they couldn't stand him? Of course over time he pushed that aside but that lingering doubt had always been in the back of his mind somewhere. It was the same reason he never came out and said to his friends about the Fox sealed inside.

But that was just a small issue, the major one was that lately he had started to like both girls. Sure he liked Sakura for the longest time, but it seemed only recently she might have actually return his feelings somewhat. He wasn't sure how much but this was something he had been hoping for, for years ever since he first met the pink haired girl. She was his first love and he had always wanted her to see him as something more.

The problem was that lately he had started to like Ino as well. She was beautiful and talented, she held a different type of beauty than Sakura had. Plus Ino was always so confident and sure of herself. She also was fun to hang out with, something Naruto hadn't known at first as he had only spent small amounts of time with her before. He had gotten to know the girl a lot better in the past week and an half and he found that he started to like her more as a person and a friend. It also didn't help that he had starting to look at Ino as more of a woman than a friend either. All those times they had been pressed up against each other while training informed him of just how female she was. There was the smell of her hair, the soft feel of her chest rubbing up against him, and so many other things that made it hard to him to focus while training with her.

So the problem was who to choose? The girl he had been after for as long as he had known her or the girl that he had started to think about? Plus the other major problem was this, he knew next to nothing about women. It wasn't like he had anyone to tell him stuff growing up, plus anything that came out of Jiraiya's mouth had been too perverted for him to take seriously those years training with him. Naruto knew that he usually did or said the wrong thing, he just acted out without thinking. The times he got Sakura mad was proof of that, but she usually had a point in being mad with him.

So what if he was reading things wrong? It wouldn't be the first time he misread the situation. That thing with Shion was proof of that, he felt himself blushing at that. At the time he had helped the Priestess of Demon Country, she had asked him to help her pass her powers on to the next generation. He had agreed not really thinking on it, he hadn't know what she had implied. It wasn't until on their way back when he noticed the odd looks he kept getting and asked what was up, when Kakashi told him what he had basically agreed to.

Thankfully they had been taking Shion back home at the time, Naruto's reaction had been pretty embarrassing and Shion took pity and told him it had been a joke. Although thinking back, she most likely hadn't been joking. It was that whole thing that was making Naruto run his thoughts in circles. He needed to know what was going on but could he just come out and say it? What if he said the wrong thing or said something stupid again?

So all of this led him to just sitting on the giant stone head trying to come up with a plan.

**- Naruto and Ino-**

Naruto felt a little nervous as he was with Ino at the moment. She had seemed a bit serious when she asked him to meet with her somewhere private. They were currently in the park just walking but so far she hadn't said much. Ino however looked nervous and with good reason.

Ino had been thinking long and hard on how to get Naruto to notice her, but she wasn't sure if anything had been working. She thought that she noticed some interests in him but it was hard to tell, he had such an innocence about him that he could get embarrassed easily under the right circumstances. For the past few days she thought they had been making progress but still Naruto hadn't made a single move. So it was now time for her to make that move, before Sakura got up the courage to do the same. She knew that if Sakura confessed there was a very good chance that Naruto would take it. Plus Naruto was never one to cheat on a girl, not like she would still go after him if he was taken, she wasn't that kind of girl and there was no way she would throw away her friendship with Sakura like that.

So she decided to lay her cards on the table and let Naruto choose.

She led him through the park, it was a nice sunny day and there was a nice breeze moving in. All in all it would have been the perfect type of day for a real date. Well if she played her hand right maybe they would actually be going on dates soon. She led him to a nice area that was unoccupied at the moment, this was good as she wasn't sure she could do this with an audience, especially if things went bad.

Looking around she noticed that they were totally alone for the moment, so she needed to do this while she had the privacy she needed for what she had planned. Ino stopped a bit as she moved closer to Naruto who looked a little confused at her for a moment.

Ino placed her hands on his shoulders as she looked up at him, she hadn't noticed but she kind of liked how much taller he was now. "You know Naruto I don't know if you noticed but we've been getting kind of close right?"

"W-well yeah," Naruto said looking down at her trying not to blush as how close they were physically at the moment.

She gave a small smile looking at him he was kind of cute when he was like this. She reached up gently with one hand and lightly ran her ringers over the black whisker marks on the side of his cheek. It was something she had always wanted to do lately. She wasn't sure why, she thought she might feel some difference but it was like running a hand over a tattoo.

"Well I think it's time I tell you something," Ino blushed a bit feeling her heart racing. This was the moment of truth, there was no backing down now. "Lately...I started to really like you Naruto."

"W-well I like you too we're really good friends now," Naruto told her not sure what to say.

"No not like that, I do like you as a friend but...well let me show you," Ino knew that Naruto was more of an actions speak louder than words type. So she reached up a little and gave him a small kiss to his lips. It wasn't anything passionate that you'd write about in books, but it wasn't too timid. She wanted to let him know where she stood with him, to open his eyes to what was before him. She did lose track of time for a moment, his lips as she would later think back, were very kissable.

She pulled back as both teens were blushing full red now, Naruto couldn't even speak at the moment. That had been his first real kiss, well with a girl at least. That other one was a memory he would repress and bury as long as he lived. But still, his mind was still processing what had just happened. Although the fact that the kiss had been very nice to him had managed to get through. He had never kissed a girl and their lips were very soft, at least Ino's were.

Ino smirked at the reaction of the boy in front of her, that had been her first kiss and she was glad that it was at least with Naruto. He wouldn't take advantage of situation, one of the many reasons she had started to become attracted to him.

"Now do you understand?" Ino asked him softly to which he nodded his head.

He wasn't sure what he could say or should say to something like that. He still cared for Sakura, but that kiss, that kiss for the first time in his life he felt a small doubt showing up where there had been none before. Sure he asked out Sakura all the time but nothing serious came from it, was he to chase a girl that might not return his feelings for his entire life? Now he had a very nice girl in front of him that did like him, that wanted to be something more with him.

He was so confused he didn't know what to think or feel now.

Ino had figured that this would be his reaction, after all Naruto was always a bit slow on the uptake and she also wanted to give him time to process things. She wouldn't push him for an answer right away, pressuring him would be unfair and she wanted this to be totally his choice. So she backed away a bit and smiled at him a little.

"Don't worry you don't have to say anything yet, just let your heart tell you what you want and I'll be there. I can wait for you to make up your mind, I know you still got a thing for Sakura so until you make a choice we'll end it there for now. But I hope that you consider moving on, I may not be Sakura but I can be just as good to you if you give me a chance." She said softly as she turned and walked away.

A part of her hoped that she would hear him coming after her, but she knew that was a long shot. No this was a better way, she and Sakura could dance around this for a long time. Maybe it wasn't fair to put Naruto in the middle for so long, he needed to make a choice. She only hoped that over the past few weeks she had made enough progress with him to have him consider choosing her over Sakura.

Well only time will tell, she figured.

**- Naruto and Sakura-**

Naruto wished he could focus on the time with Sakura, he really did but that thing with Ino had been making it hard to focus. Currently the two of them were just going for a walk, nothing special but it was for him in a way. When he normally was with Sakura the time with her was always special in his heart, because this was time with Sakura and only just them. He just wished he could enjoy the time they were having together a lot more without his mind being all occupied.

Sakura however did notice that Naruto's mind was elsewhere, she had known him long enough to know that. Mainly it was just because of how quiet he was, Naruto was only quiet when his mind was too busy to think of something else. She was kind of worried actually, whatever it was had to be major and she had a sinking feeling she might know what it was. For the past week she and Ino had been trying to gain Naruto's attention, but so far the boy hadn't shown any new interests. Then again she knew how thick he could be to the obvious at times but at other times he could also surprise you. Maybe now was the time to finally stop with the games and just get to the heart of the matter.

She would have told him sooner but she wanted to make sure of her own feelings before confession them to him. In the past week she knew that the feelings she had were of no mere crush or infatuation. She did have feelings for Naruto, because honestly who wouldn't if they got to know the boy. Sure he had his faults but everyone did, it was what lay beyond the faults that were amazing. She was pulled out of her thoughts as she realized where they had walked without even noticing it. She saw the three stumps where it all began, where Team 7 had been born.

"How did we get here?" Sakura muttered, she thought she had been following Naruto or had he been following her? She wasn't too sure which one but while she had been deep in thought they had come across the old training field.

Naruto looked up at her voice and noticed where they were as well. A small smile got on his face remembering their younger days here and the first time they had been formed into a team. "I still can't believe you all left me tied to the stump."

Sakura couldn't help but let out a giggle at that memory, "We did untie you before we got too far."

Naruto pouted at her, "Hey that wasn't funny, why did you guys walk off so far?"

"Well Kakashi-sensei said he heard how you got out of ropes before and wanted to see if you could get out before we got out of sight. I guess you couldn't." Sakura grinned trying to fight back the laugh at his face. She couldn't help it, he looked so cute when he pouted like a kid.

"That's not when most of my body is tied up," Naruto informed her while he made plans to deal with Kakashi later on. He had always wondered and now he had a reason for a little revenge. Although he could get out or robes, it wasn't until later when he learned how to get out of his hold body being tied up. His escapes from the hospital sure were good ninja training for him.

Naruto looked back at the field remembering training here, the two bells tests and everything else they had been through. They had a lot of happy times here, although it was kind of sad now. There was a missing member of the team, sure Sai fit in really well but he couldn't replace Sasuke. Sakura saw the look on his face and knew where his thoughts were going, she reached down and held his hand. This surprised the boy as he looked at her and she only smiled back.

"I know, we'll save him even if we have to beat the sense into him," Sakura told him making him smile a bit more. "And I hit a lot harder when he knew me so maybe my fists can scramble his brains back into line."

Naruto knew just how hard she could hit and for a moment he pitied Sasuke if he ever got hit by her. Knowing him he might just dismiss Sakura as the same girl she had been when he left. That would prove to be a major mistake by him.

Sakura looked back to the field and smiled, "It seems so long ago since when we first started and we've come a long way. I still remember that bell test and how you used shadow clones, I was honestly surprised and secretly impressed that you used that."

"Really?" Naruto liked hearing about this.

Sakura nodded, "I didn't say anything, so sorry for that."

"I thought I said that-"

"I know, I know you forgave me but I have to forgive myself first you know," Sakura told him. "I'm not sure I'll ever will really but I decided to learn from the past mistakes. Plus that wasn't the only time I've been impressed by you. The fight with Kiba and then with Neji, I bet most thought you would fail but for some reason I wasn't so sure. I just had this feeling that you had a chance and when the fight started to go in your favour I was so excited for you. When you won I was happy for you, I think I was standing on my feet clapping for you."

Naruto wished he could have seen that, that moment in his life had been one of the greatest moments of his life but to hear this from Sakura, it made it seem even better.

"Then there was that time you stopped me from making the biggest mistake of my life," Sakura said a little sadly. "I can't believe I was so stupid to think I could just leave the village going after him. I'm lucky you caught me and went with me, although I don't think I'll ever see Jiraiya in the same light ever again because of it."

Naruto chuckled remembering that impromptu mission to Rice looking for the Sound Village. He had warned her of what Jiraiya was like but you had to experience yourself to really believe it. They had met the Fuma clan there, and Sasame. He wondered how she was doing now? He tried not to blush remembering the first time seeing the pretty red head, or how he had accidentally felt her up while saving her. That was the first time he touched a girls…well he better not think about it or else he might get a nose bleed.

"It was that mission that you really impressed me Naruto," Sakura said remembering that time in one of Orochimaru's lairs. How she had nearly given up and had died but he had saved her, yet again too. He always saved her it seemed and she wished she could have done more back then. "In fact you kind of inspired me to become a better ninja that day." She blushed a bit at her little confession but it was true, all during that mission he never gave up. Even when things were at their darkest he never gave up and fought on. It was that mission that made her realize that was what Naruto was, he never gave up. He always looked forward and moved on, never looking back, never with regrets.

Naruto felt a bit embarrassed at this, he scratched the back of his head but it felt nice that Sakura was saying these things to him. She turned away for a moment almost as thought she was getting herself ready for something. He wasn't sure what it was but when she turned to face him her face was more serious now. Something was going on and he wasn't sure what it was.

"There is something else I wanted to say to you," Sakura said as she tried to ignore the pounding of her heart. She was nervous and she put all her focus into this, she had practiced this so many times in her head, so many different ways. She wanted to get everything out without missing a detail and let him know everything. "I know that life has been hard for you, and I know the reason why. I wish I had known about your burden a lot sooner, I would have wanted to help you a lot more with it. I just wish I could have done a lot more…"

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto knew that she knew part of his secret, he spoke out about how he and Gaara were the same and had said the word 'Jinchuriki'. Plus given that he had hurt her on the bridge when he battle Orochimaru, well he wasn't sure what she saw but he had a feeling that she knew enough.

"I don't know everything but I wish you would tell me, I want to know everything Naruto. I want to know more about you, the real you because…because…" Sakura felt the tears forming and she hated herself for it. She hated how she cried too easily, she was always too emotional but the thought of him being alone all those years, of the burden inside of him, it was painful to think of it. "I care for you Naruto, I care for you more than just a friend. You mean so much to me, more than I can tell you and I want you to know how I feel."

Sakura reached up to cup his face as both teens blushed, Sakura needed to do one more thing, if she didn't do this she would never forgive herself. She leaned up and gently pressed her lips to Naruto as she tasted his lips, the first kiss of her life. Naruto was too shocked to really do anything, this was one of his dreams come true for him, he nearly forgot to kiss her back but he did. That kiss with Ino had helped him know what to do a bit more. It was short and gentle but both of them were blushing a lot after it.

Sakura placed a hand on his chest, "I know I haven't been always good to you in the past, but I've been better and I don't' know if you still want me. But I just wanted you to know what I felt so take your time and think on it, I can wait."

Sakura slowly took a few steps back as she turned to walk home, "When you're ready to make a decision no matter what, I'll still always be there for you."

Naruto didn't know what to say or think, his mind was still thinking that he had actually gotten a kiss from Sakura of all people. His heart wouldn't stop pounding in his ears and before he pulled himself out of it, she was gone. He wanted to run after her but then he remembered Ino and the kiss she gave him. He stood there for awhile before he muttered the first words that came to him.

"What the hell am I going to do now?!"

**-Fourth's Head-**

So here he was again, Naruto sitting back on the stone head of the Fourth Hokage only now his problems were both simplified and yet even weight more on him. It was confirmed, both girls liked him, both girls had confessed to him and yet what was he to do? Ino knew more about him than anyone and she didn't shy away from it. She had embraced it and him, he never felt like that since Iruka had proclaimed that Naruto wasn't the demon, all those years ago in the forest with Mizuki. To know that a girl liked him knowing all those dark secrets and cared for him touched his heart. He felt a warmth in his chest knowing someone could care about him knowing all that stuff.

Then there was Sakura, the girl he had wanted since before he knew what love really was. She knew enough of his secret that she didn't care about it either. In fact like the medic she was, she wanted to heal the damage done to him from carrying his burden. The thought that the girl he cared for since childhood now cared for him back, well he was happier than words could describe.

He liked both girls but what would he do now? How could he pick just one of them over the other? He had remembered how hard Sakura took it when Sasuke left. She had been so hurt and depressed, he had never seen her like that. Although he did try to help her out nothing had really worked, it was true that she eventually got over it but he still hated Sasuke for doing that to her. He couldn't bring himself to hurt someone like that, which was where the problem was now. If he picked Ino, Sakura would be hurt and the thought of him hurting Sakura made him feel lower than dirt. How could he do something that he knew would hurt that girl?

But what if he chose Sakura then? He had become close to Ino lately and he really didn't want to mess that up, he didn't think he could hurt his friends and Ino had recently become a very good friend. Hell who was he kidding, she had become maybe something more than just a friend. It just wasn't fair, why after a life time of being alone and dateless did this come into play and now of all times? Now he had two really cute girls after him, both were good friends and he didn't want to hurt either of them. He felt like he wanted to bang his head against something, but that wouldn't work.

He sighed as he fell onto his back staring up at the sky, the sun was starting to fade as the land entered the twilight hour. Normally he would enjoy the view but he just had too much on his mind. He thought of going for advice but had anyone actually been in this type of relationship before? He couldn't think of any, hell most people he knew were single.

**-Hokage Tower-**

Tsunade hummed to herself as she went though the reports, normally she would hate doing this but her mood had been much better lately. Of course there was a reason for that, not that she was telling anyone. Although Shizune of course knew, after she returned after a week's vacation she had come into their home to see Tsunade on Jiraiya's lap in a deep kiss. That had been a bit embarrassing but the young woman seemed fine with it. Almost as if she had seen worse in her time, true as a medic they had seemed some horrible things, but Shizune usually was very easily embarrassed.

Well, it was no matter for Tsunade. It wasn't like she could keep that secret from her, not that it was really a 'secret', it was just easier to not be so open about things. Well that and for her and Jiraiya it was kind of fun as they 'snuck' around the village. People seeing them eating or drinking together would assume they were just two old friends hanging out. They did that all the time before she opened her heart to him. Plus it made them feel young again, like a couple of teens dating behind the backs of their parents. Of course if they had tried that back when they were genin they might have had to date behind their parent's backs.

At least she would have, her mother and father when alive most likely wouldn't have approved of Jiraiya. Not that they really got a chance to meet him, both had died soon after her little brother had been born so she had to raise him on her own for a long time.

She cast a small look to the few photos on her desk, of her brother was for one, another of a young Naruto who had taken over that place in her heart. She had placed that on her desk the first day Naruto had left for his training, she just never got it in her heart to put it somewhere in her home. Just something about his smiling face made her stress lessen a bit. It was too bad that the real one usually gave her stress in person.

She sighed as she got back to the reports, she was just glancing at them only reading if they were important. If she had to read every line of every report she would never get through them. Plus she was nearly done for the night, then she would go home and relax. Maybe a nice hot bubble bath would be in order for the night. That sounded good to her.

Tsunade jumped when suddenly she felt a kiss on the back of her neck. She turned around to see a grinning Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya! Damn it how many times do I have to tell you to not surprise me at the office like that?" She demanded. Although angry on the outside she felt the opposite on the inside. But she was Hokage so she had to put up a face.

"Oh please you don't think I never caught Minato with Kushina in here?" Jiraiya giggled remembering that. "I think it was soon after he was Hokage that I caught them in here, hell I think the boy might have been conceived on that desk."

Tsunade looked at the desk she had worked years on, that had been the most disturbing thing she had ever known. She glared at her teammate and now she supposed boyfriend. "I hate you sometimes, now I have to get a new desk."

He got that look she knew all too well in his eyes as he leaned down with an arm drabbed over her. "Well...we could maybe break it in ourselves."

She had to repress that urge, after decades of no sex she had forgotten how good it had been. The fact that Jiraiya still had the sex drive of a teenager was both a medical miracle and very useful. The medic in her had been tempted to study what allowed him to stay like this in his advanced age. But it might turn every male into a pervert as bad as him, that would doom the human species as women wouldn't let most males close to them.

Still, that bath was starting to take second place for a moment but she couldn't allow any urges to let him turn _her _into a pervert. She wouldn't be caught doing anything like that in here, they weren't teenagers. She picked up his arm and flung it back with a smirk, "Nice try but no."

He sighed as he sat on her desk, "oh well maybe another time."

"So you've been hanging around a lot more recently," she smirked as if she didn't know the reason. "Thought you wanted to keep the spy network up."

"Trying to get rid of me already?" She smiled at her but then shrugged. "Had something else on my mind, plus I keep in touch. Although I'm thinking of passing on the torch, I'm not getting any younger and I've been training a possible new recruit."

This surprised Tsunade, she never thought that Jiraiya of all people would leave his spy network in the hands of anyone. Then she thought of something that actually concerned her, "You're not teaching Naruto are you?"

Jiraiya laughed, "Oh hell no. I may love the boy and he's my finest apprentice but the boy has about the same talent for spy work as he does for genjutsu. He's just too honest and open for the job. No I found someone that can be deceptive, emotionless when he needs to be, and is already got some spy training."

She blinked trying to think of who this was, "Okay I give up, who?"

"That new teammate of Naruto's, Sai."

"Sai!?" Tsunade yelled out. "Okay I admit that he's come a long way but aren't you concerned about his ties to Danzo still?"

"Yeah but I think Naruto has been a good influence on the boy," Jiraiya had planned to test the boy out a bit more to see where his loyalties laid in the village. But the boy had a good skills for this and he wasn't well known outside of the village, or even in it. The perfect spy was someone that could blend into the crowd and not stand out. The only reason he never bothered was because of how so many knew his face it was kind of pointless.

"Well it is your spy ring so you'll know best, but what are you training him on? There isn't much that goes on in the village is there?" She asked.

He chuckled as he pulled a few sheets of paper and silently passed them to her. She raised an eyebrow wondering what he was getting at. She glanced at the papers and then she got a lot more interested in them. "These are..."

"Play by play reports on Naruto's little adventures with those two girls." He smirked seeing her read them with interests. He already had copies of these as he was using them as the plot for his next book. That boy would help him make his next novel next year at this rate.

"Well maybe there is something going on," Tsunade chuckled as she leaned back in her chair reading on. She never thought of the advantages to having a boyfriend who was a spy master before now.

**Next up Chapter 10: Battle of the Heart**


	10. Battle of the Heart

**Unforeseen Consequences**

**Chapter 10: Battle of the Heart**

After the confessions of the two girls and his time thinking on the Fourth's Head, Naruto had barely slept at all that night. He kept tossing and turning thinking about his problem. He wasn't sure he could pick one girl over the other, they were both of his precious people and to him that meant more than gold. Those precious to him were the most important things in his life. Growing up alone had taught him the true value of friendship. First it had been the Third Hokage, then the people at the ramen stand, then Iruka. Slowly over time he got more and more friends, the bonds he formed started to fill the gap in his life.

Now not one but two girls were liked him, this was an odd feeling for Naruto. Sure a little ego boost did happen, and he had thought about what it would be like for girls to like him. Seeing Sasuke with all those fangirls all those years did make him a little jealous of all that kind of attention. But the fantasy and the reality were two totally different things. Maybe if they were just two girls he didn't know it wouldn't be so hard. But he was on a team with one, and had formed a stronger friendship with the other. All in all Naruto was pretty much stuck.

So when morning came he was glad he had nothing to do that day, he was tired from a lack of sleep and mentally tired from constantly thinking about his problem. In fact he was getting a headache as he was thinking in circles the entire time. Normally he would train but he really wasn't up to it, so he decided to try and seek out help again. He had to ask someone about this and get their opinion on matters. So after showering, having breakfast and then changing into his civilian clothing he left in search of someone he knew.

He thought of Iruka but he would most likely be teaching a class, so Naruto would see him after school was out for the day. He went to track down Jiraiya, even though the man was a self proclaimed super pervert, Naruto had no one else that knew more about women. It was just how desperate he was to find an answer to go to that old pervert for help with women. But for some reason Naruto couldn't find him in the usual spots. The river where he spied on women playing in the water, the hot springs where he liked to peep, the bars when he tried to pick up women, even the adult books stores if the man was checking on the sales of his novels. So far no luck, making the boy think his master was out on another mission.

He sighed in defeat as he walked alone the streets wondering if he would find any of his friends. He thought about maybe Sai had more books or knew of books on something like this. So he checked the library but no luck. Maybe he was out painting someone, Naruto figured as he slumped down on the steps to think on who else he could ask. It was just blind luck that two people he knew actually saw him first as he was sitting on the steps of the library thinking about his problem.

"Oh Naruto, what are you doing here?"

Naruto looked up to see both Kakashi and Yamato and he brightened up on seeing them. "Kakashi-sensei, Yamato-sensei! When did you two get back?"

"Just today," Kakashi smiled at the boy. "The mission went well and we dropped off the report."

"Oh hey did you see Baa-chan by any chance?" Naruto asked hoping that the Hokage would be in. If anyone might help him understand the mind of a woman then maybe another woman was needed.

Kakashi was a bit surprised by the question, "Now that you mention it no, she seemed to be out for the moment when we dropped in our report."

Yamato nodded it was odd that the Hokage hadn't been in, "Shizune said something about her having an appointment of some kind. So we gave her our report and left. Although she did seem a little odd when we asked where the Hokage was."

"Noticed that too did you," Kakashi stated as he thought back to it. Shizune had seemed to blush a bit almost as if she was embarrassed about something. But what could be so bad that would make her do that? Maybe Tsunade was out drinking or something, or maybe gambling. But it was still early and the Hokage couldn't have started this early in the day. Usually she waited until at least after work before the woman would indulge in her personal vices. Or maybe he was just reading too much into things, so Kakashi shrugged it off.

"Oh." Naruto was disappointed by that. First he couldn't find Jiraiya and then Tsunade. Maybe they were out on another mission together? But so soon again, that was kind of weird.

"Something wrong?" Yamato asked the young man before him.

Naruto slumped his shoulders and nodded, "Yeah you can say that. Do any of you know anything about girls?"

Both Kakashi and Yamato shared a look between them, both feeling a little embarrassed on the subject.

"Well…a bit," Kakashi admitted as he scratched the back of his head.

Naruto gave him a dirty look, "Ero-sennin's novels don't count."

"I have had girls in the past just for the record." Kakashi said flatly. Honestly did people think that he was still a virgin at twenty-nine? Sure he didn't have a girl every other week or something but still he had experiences with women in his life. It's just that he was careful about relationships. After all, Rin had been in love with him or maybe it had just been a strong crush. He wasn't sure but he knew that he hadn't deserved her affections, when she went missing and later presumed dead, on a mission she went off on, he had closed himself off for any emotional relationship after that. It was just safer that way, the life of a ninja was filled with death.

Naruto however had never even seen Kakashi on a date let alone any real personal history about him. "Really?"

"I can vouch for that," Yamato said as he remembered their ANBU days together. "I still think Rabbit has a thing for you."

"Huh, Rabbit?" Naruto asked confused.

Kakashi coughed as he felt a little uncomfortable of that being brought up. "She's someone in ANBU, hence the codename. Let's just say that sometimes when you're on the same team for long periods of time certain things…can happen."

Yamato tried not to laugh at how lightly his sempai told it, the two of them had once been caught by enemy ninja while 'in the act' while on a routine scouting mission. Both had thought it was a safe area, they were bored and well one thing led to another. He still remembered coming onto the seen with a furious Rabbit angry at being interrupted before the end. Plus it had been comical to see them in nothing but their masks and half naked. It was never spoke out of that group for fear of both Kakashi and Rabbit's fury but it was still an inside joke among them.

"Oh so it's not odd to have feelings for a teammate?" Naruto felt a bit better about chasing Sakura all this time.

Kakashi chuckled knowing what the boy was thinking, "Yes it happens, although usually after some time and it doesn't always last. Sometimes it's just a simple hook up but a few times something can be made of it. But there are dangers to that too, you're emotional attachment can lead you to make choices you shouldn't make or wouldn't normally make. It can cost you the lives of others on your team or cost you the mission."

Yamato had to nod his head, everyone knew the stories but it can't be helped. They may be ninja but they were also human and humans could feel what they would always feel.

Naruto had never really thought about it before, but in all honesty it didn't really change much with him. Not matter what he would do anything to protect those important to him, even at the cost of the mission.

"Well the thing is, I kind of have a problem…" Naruto trailed off not sure how to go about it.

"Oh?" Kakashi was interesting now, given where this conversation was going.

"Yeah…see Sakura-chan said that she liked me and she kissed me." Naruto blushed bright red thinking back on it.

Yamato looked at Kakashi as he sighed, "You were right sempai, it did happen after all without anyone pointing it out to them."

"I told you that her feelings for him were there, she just hides it although this is a bit sooner. I thought it would take her longer. So what's the problem then, if it's because you're on the same team you never hinted at that before." Kakashi asked Naruto.

"Well that's the thing…you see Ino-chan also confessed that she liked me and kissed me too…"

Now both men stood there just staring at the young man.

"Say again?" Kakashi asked not sure he had heard that right. Since when did Ino have anything to do with Naruto? What had been going on while he had been away on that mission for this to suddenly develop? Naruto repeated what he had said so there was no doubt that Kakashi had heard things right.

"I think you need to start at the beginning," Yamato said to the young ninja.

**-Training Area 5-**

It was one of their usual training sessions together but the atmosphere between Sakura and Ino was anything but totally friendly. For years after Naruto left and Sakura started her training, they would get together and spar. They started this when Ino had gone into medical training as well, although after Ino completed the basic qualifications it lessened a bit. But that was because unlike Sakura, Ino still held a position in an active team. But still over the years they continued to spar now and then. However with the issue of Naruto between them, this training session had an undertone to it all.

Sakura pulled on her black fighting gloves as she got herself ready, "So any limitations?"

Ino finished stretching herself out, "the usual, non-lethal stuff only but any else goes."

"Fine with me." Sakura stated as the two of them got ready. At first it was just a staring match, each young woman was looking for a hint of what the other might be up to. Plans and counter-plans were quickly being made and then thrown away. It all depended on the opening moves that would start the tempo of the sparring. Ino decided that she wanted to start things off, she quickly pulled out several blunted kunai and threw them at Sakura as she moved off at a run.

Sakura saw the opening move and drew her own kunai, she threw them and each of hers hit all of Ino's kunai deflecting them all. When that was done, Sakura turned to see where Ino was running and with her other fist smashed it into the ground. The earth tore itself to pieces as the path of destruction went after Ino. Not for the first time, Ino wished she had that kind of monstrous strength, but Sakura always did have the better chakra control to learn that.

Ino jumped the growing fissure and while in the air threw several shuriken; she knew that Sakura would dodge those as she hid behind one of the large pieces of earth that had been pushed out of the ground. She knew that Sakura would most likely power her way towards her, so she had to play it smart. You couldn't go toe to toe against Sakura unless you were fast enough to avoid getting hit. Thankfully her training with Naruto had helped her in her close combat skills, she just hoped she had learned enough.

Ino sensed the attack coming and jumped as the rock was smashed to pieces. She continued to jump back getting some distance to see Sakura running at her. Ino didn't waste time as she threw two kunai at her to get her to dodge. But to her surprise the kunai went right through Sakura.

'Damn it, it's a clone then the original is-crap!' Ino mentally cursed as she jumped out of the way of a falling Sakura. She had smashed the rock and with all the dust and smoke, Ino hadn't seen the simple clone being done. All ninja new that simple jutsu but honestly what chunin used them? It had been unexpected and Ino was thinking maybe Sakura was also trying to play it the way Naruto did. It didn't surprise the blonde that Sakura would have picked up a few things over all that time spent on Team 7.

So Sakura had used the clone to distract while she had jumped into the air and was attempting to get Ino from above. Thankfully it had still been daylight and Ino had managed to catch Sakura's shadow. If this had been night it would have been more difficult. Still, the impact had been impressive as Sakura destroyed more of the ground.

"Not too bad Forehead," Ino smirked at the other girl. "Looks like you're using that large head of yours for something."

Sakura got a visible tick on said head but she remained smiling, even if the smile was a bit strained. "Well thank you, although are you ever going to get on the offensive? I nearly got you with that, you must be slowing down."

Now it was Ino's turn to get a tick and force a smile. "Well then, let's just see shall we?"

Ino threw out a small smoke bomb at the other girl, when it exploded she dashed in. It wouldn't blind Sakura for long but she wanted to get in under Sakura's guard while she could. It had worked as Ino managed to dodge a fist and try for an elbow to Sakura's gut, but she felt nothing but air. Sakura had stepped out of the way. Ino jumped to her feeling the wind against her head from Sakura's punch just missing her.

The smoke was starting to clear and so Ino took her shot, she could see a form of Sakura starting to appear so she jumped at it and lashed out with a kick. Just when she felt it connect with something she realised that Sakura caught the leg. Ino's eyes widened as the dust finally cleared and saw Sakura's smirking face as she held Ino's leg.

Sakura threw Ino with her strength sending the girl flying, although thankfully Sakura pulled her strength. Ino managed to right herself in the air and land on her feet but it had been close. But Ino was only getting started. She ran at Sakura as the other girl picked up a large piece of earth and threw it. Ino was able to easily dodge it as she got closer. She knew that Sakura wouldn't give her time to use her any kind of mind jutsu so it would have to be another way. When she was close enough Sakura threw out a punch that Ino dodge, now it was time for Ino's training with Naruto to pay off.

Sakura had strength but only if she could use it, so Ino managed to grip Sakura's wrist and pull her arm around into a modified hammer lock. She then used her other arm to wrap around Sakura's neck from behind.

"Got you now," Ino said triumphantly. "Good thing all that training with Naruto paid off, you know it was always fun pressing our bodies together like this with him."

Ino hoped the jab would get Sakura's anger going, anger always made you make mistakes.

Although it did make Sakura a little jealous she was controlling herself. "One question, did you really think I could only put my strength into my fists?"

Sakura raised a leg and slammed it into the ground, shattering it with an explosion of power. Ino lost her grip as she also lost her footing from the ground shifting. She had forgotten that Sakura could do that, mainly due to the fact that Sakura hardly ever used her strength with her kicks.

It was only the start of things between them as they continued to spar against each other.

After some time the two girls had ended up panting heavily as they each were resting against the same large tree. Both girls looked dirty and their clothing was tattered in a few places, they were also sporting a few small injuries. Mainly just light bruising that both of them could easily fix when they got their breath back. It had been a long and hard fought fight but both girls were just too tired to continue on.

"I don't get it," Sakura breathed out finally, "Why are you fighting so hard?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Ino smirked as Sakura mirrored her. "I just thought that you were doing this king of because someone else actually showed interests in him."

"No," Sakura shook her head slightly, "I think it only just made me open my eyes and admit to myself the feelings that I guess have been there, slowly growing over time."

"I knew there was a draw back to that thick forehead of yours," Ino said in good humour.

"Still beat you in the medical tests," Sakura said smugly knowing how Ino had studied very hard but only to get average marks, while Sakura had gotten high marks in their training. Not that Ino minded, she had learned some good skills but Sakura was the natural medic between them.

"So I guess this fight proved nothing in the end," Ino sighed as she rested her head against the hard tree bark, ignoring the feel of it pressing against a bruise on her head. She was too tired to really care about being uncomfortable at the moment. "So what are we going to do? Do you really think he can make a choice?"

Sakura thought about it long and hard, "Honestly I'm not sure, he doesn't like to hurt others."

"Yeah he's a good guy like that," Ino smiled at one of the good qualities that she really liked about him.

There was a heavy silent between the two of them for a moment before Sakura was the first to speak. "You know I'm a bit jealous of you."

"Huh?" Ino tried to turn to face the pink haired girl surprised.

"Because of what you tried to do, you have a deeper understanding of him. I don't think I'll ever get to understand him as well as you've gotten to. All his dreams, all his pain even, all the things he doesn't try to burden with us with. I wish I knew just so I could help him heal from whatever pain that's inside of him." She felt the sting in her eyes from tears but tried not to cry. She always cried too easily and she hated that about herself. A ninja wasn't supposed to show emotion but she wore her emotions all the time.

"I know that there are pains he must go through that he doesn't show us but he's never opened up about them. You on the other hand know all too well and can understand here he's coming from better than me," Sakura gave a humourless laughed. "I'm his teammate and yet I still don't know him as well as you do."

Ino thought about what Sakura was saying before she decided to say something. "Put it like that, I'm envious of you too. I mean I may know more about what goes on inside of that thick skull of his-some which is pretty heart breaking and that damn Fox scares the hell out of me- but at least you have actual experiences with him. You've been there with him, hell most of his happiest memories are of Team 7 you know. I wish I had been there when you got to experience all those little things that he cherishes."

Both girls thought about that, it was a pure case of 'the grass is greener' in a way with them.

"In a way we each have half of Naruto's life," Sakura said thoughtfully. "It's too bad we just can't share that with each other."

Ino's eyes widened at that as her mind started to race with an idea. She hadn't really used it in awhile but it was possible with her. She managed to force her body next to Sakura, who looked at her curiously. She noticed that look in Ino's eyes, she was up to something and Sakura wasn't sure she liked what her friend and rival might be thinking.

"Well why don't we?" Ino asked her.

Sakura blinked a few times, "Why don't we what?"

"Share," Ino said as thought it was the simplest thing in the world. "Look we might not be able to decide things with a fight but maybe we can at least share each other's experiences. My dad has been teaching me more of the family mind techniques and one of them was how to share information between people."

It was a jutsu that was used to secretly pass information between people without any type of interception. When you couldn't be caught with a scroll or couldn't speak out loud. The only problem was that Ino hadn't trained in it all that much, she was confident she could do it especially if Sakura was willing. Plus she would like to have Sakura's experiences with Naruto, she wanted experience those times with Naruto from someone else's perspective because in a way it would be like she had been there.

"Is that safe?" Sakura asked mainly due to the fact that the last time Ino tried some kind of mental trick on her, Inner Sakura had stepped in and kicked Ino out. She wasn't sure if her inner self would do the same, then again she hadn't seen much of her inner self the past few years. As Sakura got more confident and acted more on what she was truly feeling and thinking, Inner Sakura got more quiet with less to say. Hell, she wasn't even sure what the hell that was. Sakura once looked it up in the medical books to see if she suffered from some kind of personality disorder, thankfully none of the medical books said she was crazy.

'_Are you going to behave?'_ Sakura mentally thought directly to her Inner Self.

'_**I want this as much as you, so I'll be good, now get on with it I want to see what the Blonde saw!'**_ Was the replay from Inner Sakura. _**'And as a side note, you haven't seen me much because you're finally being true to yourself. That's all I am, I speak the truth you keep denying to yourself.'**_

Ino had been thinking about it while Sakura was having the short conversation with herself, "Yeah it should be. Just keep your mind open to mind and don't fight it, that makes it harder for me to concentrate."

Sakura sighed and nodded, "Alright, so how do you do this?"

"Just hold still," Ino positioned herself for it. She went through a few hands seals and when she was done she placed her finger tips on the sides of Sakura's head as the blonde closed her eyes and started to concentrate.

At first there was nothing but then there was a strange sensation, almost like you were falling out of your body, not floating more like gravity had been reversed and yet your body felt getting bigger and in focus. It was such a strange sensation that it soon got to the point that it was indescribable. Then the memories started to float through between them.

Sakura saw everything Ino had, and the memories were crisp and clear. Unlike how memories faded with time, these were taken from Ino's inner mind where things were always in prime condition. It was one of the effects of the jutsu as it helped to ensure that no information was lost. So Sakura saw and felt everything Ino had while the other girl had been trapped in Naruto's mind. She felt Ino's fear at seeing the Kyuubi and Sakura didn't blame her. She had seen Naruto go Four Tails but this was totally different. This had been the evil that had given Naruto such a hard time in life. She saw Ino look through all the memories and Sakura's heart broke as Ino's broke, she cried when Ino had cried. Sakura was no longer sure if she was feeling her own emotions at what Ino had experience or was simply mirroring what Ino experienced.

For Ino it was the same thing, she saw all the things from Sakura's point of view, she laughed at how Sakura had secretly enjoyed the little things Naruto did, like the eraser trick against Kakashi that first day. She saw memories that she hadn't seen in Naruto's mind, then again she hadn't seen every memory so the new stuff she was experiencing was a treat for her. She felt Sakura's annoyance and her feelings for Sasuke and Ino winced. She had been like that once herself and seeing it a second time through Sakura made her realize just how much they both had grown up. Then she came to when Naruto went Four Tails, she hadn't seen this and the sight of Naruto like that was nearly too much for her.

Ino experienced the moment Sakura's heart was breaking at how far Naruto would go for the promise, she felt as thought she was the one running to Naruto begging him to stop before a tail came and hit her arm.

Then something else happened, as the two girls were experiencing things from the other's perspective they were feeling just what the other felt about Naruto. They were not only getting to know Naruto more, but they were also understanding the other in such a personal and intimate manner. The mental link stayed open longer then was needed as both girls explored the life of the other. Ino felt Sakura's despair and loneliness as a child. Sakura saw how Ino views their friendship and rivalry.

Then they both felt each other's emotions about how they felt about Naruto and they stopped. Ino pulled back as they both stared at the other, they looked at each other almost as if seeing the other for the first time. It was all kind of a jumble for the moment but what had happened forever chanced their view of the other. They had seen into the soul of the other, every personal secret was revealed to them, both were 'naked' to the other now, totally exposed with no masks to hide behind.

And they both knew and finally understood where the other was feeling with Naruto.

"You're in love with him," both of them said at the exact same time.

Both girls slumped a bit against the tree thinking about what they had learned. Both of them loved Naruto and the experiences they just gained only seemed to make it worse. With what they had shared, their emotions were even more powerful as they were now backed up by the emotions of the other. Ino had made a mistake in leaving the link between them open for so long. The jutsu was meant only for short times not to have it opened for as long as it had just been done.

The side effects of the jutsu, was that the longer the connection the harder it was for the individuals to know who they were. With all the different memories that got passed between two people, sometimes people in the past had lost their sense of self totally. Thankfully Ino hadn't gotten that far, but she had gone far enough for the two of them to know the other like they were now both two halves of a whole. Both of them now held the memories, emotions and experiences of the other. Not all of them but enough of it had been passed between the two of them that changed things now.

How could the other have Naruto now? If one of them got him the other would be glad but the heart ache would be so much worse. Not only that, but the other would most likely know what the other was going through and would feel for their pain. How as Sakura to deny her best friend the first real love of her life? Ino was thinking the same thing, she knew just how much Sakura had fallen in love with Naruto too. It had just made a complicated position even worse.

"Now what are we going to do?" Sakura finally asked not sure herself. "I don't know what I'd do if he picked you over me feeling like this, plus I couldn't look you in the eye if he picked me…"

"Yeah…god what a dump idea that was," Ino muttered to herself. She wished she had paid more attention to that training of her father. Well she would now, he kept saying that the mind was a very delicate thing and now she was learning the hard way about that.

"You know he has to pick on no matter what," Sakura said thinking back to what she learned. "He's been alone for so long, he needs actual love in his life. Someone that can give him that love, he deserves it. It hurts just remembering all those years alone, I know what it's like but I at least had my parents."

"Yeah it was," Ino muttered remembering Sakura's memories of childhood before they had met. She had no idea that Sakura had known the same loneliness as Naruto, that same hollow pain in your chest was horrible. It felt totally empty and dark, yet there was this throbbing pain that game from the emptiness.

"He deserves to be happy…" Sakura stated and Ino could only nod. "But then…what do we do about the situation? After sharing that with you I feel even closer to you, I don't want you to get hurt."

Ino thought about it, they had shared something profound with each other that went beyond words. She saw Sakura in a light she hadn't see before, when you truly understood another person it changed your views of things.

'_We shared so much and yet we can't share the love we feel for the same man,'_ Ino thought bitterly. Then she blinked, was that the answer? Well it might depend on if Sakura would go for it but it also depended on what Naruto would think on it.

"I have another idea." Ino said.

"Oh god now what?" Sakura moaned not sure she could take another idea.

Ino looked at the pink haired medic with a small smile on her face. "Well tell me what you think about this…"

**Next up Chapter 11: Three Hearts Beat As One**

**I think I'll end this soon, this wasn't meant to be a long story but I think I might come back to this later with a sequel. Maybe I'll add Hinata into the mix with that one.**


	11. Three hearts beat as one

**Unforeseen Consequences**

**Chapter 11: Three Hearts Beat As One**

"So what do you think?" Naruto asked as he had just finished off explaining everything that had been going on lately. He hoped that both Yamato and Kakashi could at least give him something to go on. He was so confused and torn between both girls that he had no idea what to do.

Yamato looked to Kakashi he had no idea what to do in a situation like this. He had no experience when it came to a problem like this. He wasn't even sure that besides Naruto, he had ever known anyone with this kind of problem. Sure maybe there were times you liked two women but you choose one early on before you got into the relationship. But having two women after you at the same time, that you both liked as well? That was something that had never happened to him. He wasn't sure if Naruto was blessed or cursed with that.

Kakashi closed his eyes in thought this was certainly a nasty place to be. It was a true rock and a hard place and he doubted the whole 'looking left and right at the same time' thing would work in this moment.

"I have to admit you're in a bind here," Kakashi finally said although that was a disappointment to Naruto. He already knew that much himself. "Are you sure you're not certain which girl you like more?"

"I have no idea, before I would have picked Sakura-chan, but lately things with Ino-chan have been very nice..." Naruto trailed off thinking on that. Normally he would have picked the girl he had feelings for since he was a kid. But Ino wasn't just 'the friend' anymore, she was obviously something more to him.

"Well you can't pick that then, and knowing those two picking one wouldn't have good results either." Kakashi still remembered how Sakura and Ino were over Sasuke. The fact that they were both after the same boy again could mean a restart to that whole rivalry.

Yamato looked a little lost as he hadn't been around during that time. Kakashi waved it off as he would explain things later. Looking back at Naruto he could see that the same thoughts were running through the boy's head now. It would be very troubling for Naruto and the team to go through something like that. If he picked Ino, he couldn't see Sakura taking it well and it would affect the team. But then again if he picked Sakura and he later found himself liking Ino more, then that would start to get in the way as well.

This was why Kakashi felt that unless you could be and adult about it, relationships inside of teams were risky.

"Well the way I see things you're options are limited." Kakashi said looking up at the sky slightly. "You can't avoid them so you will have to pick no matter what the outcome. You could say, go on a date with them, after the two dates you would get a better idea of how it would be with each girl and it would make for a more informed choice. You could also choose not to date either of them."

"Huh?" Naruto blinked at that.

Kakashi shrugged, "If you're not ready to date or be in a relationship then maybe you shouldn't forced yourself into one. At any rate I think those are you only choices in this. But whatever you do, I highly suggest that you let the girl you don't pick down easy. Heart break is never a good thing and you can't prevent all the pain but you can make is easier."

"My only choices huh?" Naruto said a bit depressed at that. He honestly couldn't see any other alternative then what Kakashi has told him.

"Well unless you can date both girls I don't see any other option," Kakashi said trying to lighten the mood seeing how depressed his student was.

**-Sakura and Ino-**

"So just how do you expect to pull this off with him? This is your great idea after all." Sakura asked Ino.

"Well just go over to his place and explain what we came up with." Ino said simply.

"We?" Sakura asked her friend.

"So I came up with it, but you're going along with it," Ino told her.

They were currently in a small examining room in the hospital taking care of their injuries from their little 'sparring' match earlier. Since going to Naruto looking all cut up, bruised and messy wouldn't be the best way to start things off. So they managed to get a small examining room that wasn't in use to heal up. Ino had healed up Sakura and now she was returning the favour.

Ino had to admit at how easy Sakura managed to get them a room for this. Then again Sakura spent more time here, plus Sakura was the one most said would replace Tsunade in the world of medicine one day. Ino knew it was true, sure both of them had trained under Tsunade but Sakura had thrown herself into it full force. Of course now Ino really knew what had motivated the girl thanks to the shared memories. In her place Ino had to admit she would do the same, in fact she was. She had been spending time trying to catch up. Of course maybe she should find her own little thing to do, because she knew there was no way to catch up to Sakura in being a medic.

Sure Ino spent time here, all combat medics were required to put in a set number of hours. If they didn't they could get their medical license suspended for a review. It wasn't that big an issue, but it was a black mark on your record that could hurt you. Someone that had this happen one too many times and if they didn't have good reasons, well then you could get it revoked permanently. It was a good thing that going on missions went to that count. Between her training with her father, her team, and part time work at the family store with working some hours off here. Well it was no wonder she had no social life until now.

"You really think this will work?" Sakura asked worried about it all. "I mean what if he doesn't go for your idea?" That was the major issue, it would all hang on what Naruto said about the idea. Plus there were other issues as well but they could cross those when they came to it. First the big step, then they could take the other steps after it.

"How many boys would actually give up on a deal this good?" Ino smirked. "He's getting two hot girls for the price of one. Although I'm more worried about what kind of ideas he might get in his head."

Sakura thought about it, now with memories of Naruto and Ino, she was finding it easier to think what either of them would think about. It was still all very weird and sometimes even a bit scary. Ever since they came here, she had memories that weren't her own, just pop in her head. It felt like she was losing herself and had said so to Ino. The fact that her best friend felt the same thing, Sakura wasn't sure that was a relief or not. Ino did say that in time the other memories would fade a bit more and it would be easier to deal with it.

Now with Ino's crazy plan, Sakura was thinking how Naruto might react. She knew of a few things that Jiraiya had tried to do to corrupt their Naruto. She would have to have some words about that with him the next time she found Ero-sennin. She giggled a bit at that, she was even thinking of Jiraiya as that.

"What's so funny?" Ino asked.

"I keep calling Jiraiya-sama, Ero-sennin in my head." Sakura admitted.

Ino smiled and giggled, "Yeah same here. I can't believe he tried to push a woman on Naruto on his fifteenth birthday."

That was a memory that Ino had come across earlier in Naruto's mind. It had happened on his training trip in some nameless village that Ino didn't recall the name of. Jiraiya had apparently thought it would be a good idea for Naruto to get some experience dealing with women. So he dragged him into one of those seedy bars and paid for a call girl to flirt and talk with Naruto for an hour. That had been something that was totally embarrassing for Naruto. He didn't know how to be with women like that, and all he got was a full face blush and sweating from being so nervous. Although she knew that a part of him liked it, but also because he was saving himself for Sakura.

Ino felt a bit jealous that Sakura had been on his mind even back then. But now she was going to change that, she was going to ensure that he thought about her as much as Sakura. Suddenly another memory popped into her mind, this of Sakura with Tsunade talking recently. Her eyes widened as she looked at her friend.

"Wait a minute, the Hokage and the old Pervert!?" Ino yelled out causing a startled Sakura to jerk back.

"What the hell Pig?" Sakura said annoyed and hoped that her ears wouldn't be ringing for too long.

"Sorry, but I just remembered that you were talking to the Hokage about her and Ero-sennin. You got to be kidding me right? Did she actually try something with that guy?"

Sakura had forgotten about that, although it hadn't been long ago, she did have other things on her mind. "I honestly don't know. I haven't seen her since really but that is something I should ask about." Then she groaned at something hit her. Ino asked what was wrong so Sakura went into what she had been thinking. "What will she do when she finds out about the three of us, if your plan works? You know how protective she is of Naruto."

Ino sweat dropped at that, she hadn't even considered that. She was still trying to think how she would tell her parents that she had a boyfriend and was sharing him with Sakura. She hadn't even considered how others would react. Well it was too late to turn back now, she thought to herself gathering her strength. They were going to try this, and damn anyone that had a problem with it. They were just trying to be happy and to hell what others thought. She was pretty sure their friends wouldn't abandon them or anything. Sure it would shock the hell out of them, but they would deal. She just hoped that her parents and Sakura's could be as open minded.

"Well nothing ventured, nothing gained right?" Ino sighed.

Sakura could only smile and nodded. She finished up with the healing glad to see all physical evidence of their spar was gone. "Well that should be it, we should shower and chance. Meet up in two hours at Naruto's?"

"Oh yeah, I think an extra hot shower will help with the kinks I still feel." Ino only half-joked. Sure the damage was mostly gone but the muscles were still a bit stiff in some areas. Plus it would give her more time to think on just how to talk to Naruto about the idea she came up with.

**-Naruto's Apartment-**

After his disappointing time with Kakashi and Yamato, Naruto felt like he needed to get home and just try and relax. He had been so high strung from all of this that he couldn't think straight. So here he was laying on his bed looking up at his ceiling. The only thing he really came to the conclusion was that the place could use a new coat of paint. The white walls were boring to look at and it just reminded him too much of all the times he was on the hospital. He wanted to get his mind off things so much that he actually cleaned his place.

Well he cleaned most of it at least, well it was clean for him at least. Mainly no garbage on the floor although the sink still had some stuff in it, nothing was wiped down or anything fancy like that. He remembered how Sakura had made sure that he didn't live like a pig after that last time she was here. He didn't know that if you leave a mess like that roaches would show up, plus it was only just the one. She was the one that slipped and had his boxers fall on her head.

Then again, if he hadn't left unfinished food laying around and did his laundry more those two things wouldn't have happened. Well, that and the roach had most likely attracted to all the food. But it was just because he had been too busy lately. With all the missions and training he just didn't have the time. Granted when he used that excuse when she was giving him a slight beating for living in filth, she had said then why hadn't he just used his shadow clones. Well truth was he had just forgotten to use them for that. Plus sometimes they didn't always do as they were told, having the exactly the same personality wasn't always a good thing. Sometimes a clone would get distracted or had an accident and dispel early.

Although he had to admit that even angry, Sakura always did have this nice look about her. She got this passionate expression on her face and her eyes just seemed more alive.

He sighed as his mind had just went right back to Sakura. He didn't mind it when she used her fists, at least she was the one that actually made sure he was well behaved. He never had that growing up, no parents to show him what was or what wasn't acceptable behaviour. He wondered if Ino would be the same, helping to make him a better person?

"Damn it now I'm thinking about Ino-chan," Naruto said as he slapped his cheeks with his hands to break his thoughts from it. "Come on think on something else for a change. What was I thinking about before? Oh yeah, new paint color. Maybe orange, yeah repaint my walls orange that will be nice. No more stupid white like the stupid hospitals."

"Maybe a mission will take my mind off things...no that won't work either. Sakura-chan would most likely be sent with me and there is no way in hell I'm doing D-rank missions. Maybe I should find some of the others and just hang out?" Naruto asked himself. He really needed a distraction from everything. He was about to think of something to do when a knock was heard on his door. He sighed as he got out of bed and walked to the front door. He was hoping that maybe it was one of his friends visiting. That might take his mind off things.

When he opened the door he froze at what he saw. Standing there side by side was both Sakura and Ino. It was at that moment that he truly felt that either Kami or karma hated him. Maybe this was payback for all those pranks he pulled when he was younger. If he had known that life would get him back for it, he wouldn't have done it.

"Oh Sakura-chan, Ino-chan what are you two doing here?" Naruto asked nervous. He had no idea if either girl knew that they had confessed their feelings to him and kissed him.

"Well we needed to talk to you about a few things," Sakura said to him not sure how you even approached someone with this kind of thing. Thankfully it seemed like Ino was the one that wanted to take charge.

"Yeah so can we come in?" Ino said to him although from the tone in her voice not letting them in wasn't an option. Naruto nodded as he backed away from the door as the two girls entered. Ino took him lightly by the arm and led him to the couch and made him sit there in the center. Ino looked around, the place could be a bit neater, but at least it was better than on its worse day. A quick look to Sakura and Ino could see the pink haired friend was thinking the same thing.

Naruto felt a little subconscious as they looked around.

"Well at least there's no food left out this time," Sakura sighed at that. It was too unhealthy for Naruto to leave food out too long. She worried about his health sometimes, sure the Kyuubi could heal him physically but she wasn't sure just how far it went. It sure didn't help him from getting sick from drinking expired milk. Another memory that she had gotten from Ino's time in Naruto's head, she would have to talk to him about that time he posed as Sasuke at some point.

"I've learned not to do that," Naruto scratched the back of his head. It seemed odd how something he was thinking of earlier was coming up so soon.

"Well anyways we need to talk," Ino said to him gently. "About us, all three of us."

Naruto winced, he knew this was what they were going to talk about. He wondered how they found out, maybe one told the other and they got into another fight. Although they didn't look like they had gotten into a fight, which was good. He knew how much the friendship between Ino and Sakura went and he didn't want him to break that bond. Bonds of friendship were one of the most precious things in life, he couldn't stand it if he caused a break in such a thing. He knew that Sakura and Ino had gone through that once already and it took years to repair it.

"Naruto," Sakura started up seeing the look on his face. She knew that he was worrying about this whole thing and she wanted to put him at ease. "Ino and I have been talking a lot and we both think we came to a solution."

"A solution?" Naruto wasn't sure to be worried or relieved that they had thought of something. He just hoped that it wasn't going to be something like he had to pick one then and there.

"Y-Yeah," Sakura felt very nervous about this. It was a huge step for them all but it was the best way to deal with things. "See, both Ino and myself really care about you Naruto. We both want to be with you and we understand that you don't want to hurt either of us. We don't want to hurt you either and won't make you choose between us."

Naruto let out a small breath he hadn't known he had been holding. He was so relieved to know that they weren't going to make him choose.

"Yeah you see we both went through that with Sasuke-kun," Ino sighed remembering all the lost years of their friendship. "So don't want to go through that again. So here's our proposal." She took a breath as she readied herself. She felt her heart hammering in her chest from her nerves. Ino also could tell that Sakura was the same way, this was the moment of truth.

"Sakura and I, well we came to an agreement. If you want, we'll share you." There she had said it, she had put the offer out on the table and only waited for Naruto to say something. There was a long ugly pause as Sakura and Ino waited for his response. Naruto had the same look on his face for a fully minute and both girls were starting to worry.

Finally Naruto said something.

"Huh?"

Both girls nearly fell over at that unexpected word, that was not what they wanted to hear as now they're nervousness was being replaced by irritation.

"What do you mean by 'huh'?" Sakura said forcefully. "We said you can date the both of us and we'll share you between us and that's all you say?"

"Jeez, Naruto do we have to spell it out?" Ino said to him crossing her arms.

"You're both serious?" Naruto wasn't sure if this was really happening. He never thought that he could date both of them. Wasn't it wrong to do something like that, or was it just to date two girls at once if they didn't know about it? He was sure the last one was wrong, but they did come to him with this idea and they seemed pretty serious about it.

"That's right, we've talked about it and well, it's the only option really." Sakura said with a shrug. "We both care for you and we don't want the other to lose out, it avoids all the heart ache and pain as well with just picking one. Plus I'm okay if it's with Ino."

"Yeah, we're comfortable doing this together." Ino stated as she placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder to show how firm they were in this belief to him.

Naruto saw how close they were together and something Jiraiya had introduced him to once stuck in his mind. Mainly it went back to their training trip when he tried to drag his mentor out of the red light district for some training. He had to go into one of those bars that he liked to hang out in, and he found him with a girl on each arm as they were laughing and drinking. This was after the incident with his birthday and that woman. Something he still couldn't think about without blushing. But anyway he had seen the women kiss him on the cheeks, he had said something and both girls laughed as they leaned in and kissed each other.

It was Naruto's first look at girl on girl action. Later when he did managed to get Jiraiya out of there he had asked what was going on. The old man just laughed it off saying that sometimes people liked more than just one type of person. Plus others were comfortable showing it. He also said that having two girls who were totally okay with each other in that way, was a guy's ultimate dream.

Naruto didn't understand it until this moment as that image came into mind. He replaced the image with Sakura and Ino. That got him a slightly blush and nose bleed.

"W-When you say together do you mean…" He trailed off not sure he could even finish it.

Ino gave Sakura a look as she smiled. "Well you know Naruto-kun, I have to admit that Sakura-chan is a nice looking girl. Maybe we should try something out." Ino slowly moved herself closer to Sakura who to Naruto's shock wasn't moving at all. In fact she looked to encourage this action. Naruto was on his seat (literally) watching as the two girls were moving ever slowly closer together. Just as their lips were about to touch, they quickly turned to face him. They stuck out their tongues and pulled one of their lower eyelids down at him.

Naruto fell off his couch to hear the girls laughing.

"See told you he'd think we would do something like that," Ino said as she helped Naruto up and placed him back in his seat. "Honestly Naruto, Sakura and I are straight what in the world would you think that just because we agree to share you, automatically means we're bi?"

"Naruto you should have known better," Sakura said with a smile. Naruto was currently pouting at being tricked, which just looked so cute to Sakura at that moment. He looked all innocent and childish, almost like he was that young loud boy she had known in school again.

But ever the prankster, Naruto had to admit that they did get him good with that. So in the name of his good humour he took it as he smiled at them. "Good one, but are you serious about me seeing you both? Won't that be weird and how will that work?

Sakura and Ino shared a look as Sakura spoke. "We're not totally sure."

"Yeah, there's not really any set rules for something like this," Ino tried to smile but it wasn't working. Both girls had no real idea how something like this worked out. There were no rules or guide to any of this. "I guess we just play it by ear and see what works and what doesn't."

Naruto guessed that made sense, he had no idea how you even began this kind of relationship. "Well as long as it's fair. I mean I like both Ino-chan and Sakura-chan and I don't want to put one of you in front of the other."

Both girls smiled at that, that was the kind of thing that made them like him so much. He always put others in front of himself. To make sure others were happy was a very noble trait but he always seemed to sacrifice his own. Well they were going to make sure that all the years he lost out, would be given back to him. Ino smirked as went over and she slide up to Naruto's left and snuggled against him. He blushed at the close contact as she did so. Sakura not wanting to be outdone did the same only to Naruto's right.

"Well how's this for a start?" Ino asked him seeing his face turn a full shade of red.

"V-very nice." Naruto said not sure if he trusted himself to say more. When he first noticed that girls were really nice he had hoped for something like this. Girls were soft and smelled nice and now he had two of them resting against him. He could smell Ino's hair, she smelled of flowers and the skin he could feel was very soft. Sakura shifted a bit and he could smell something like cherries.

"Now that we got that out of the way, there is only one major step left," Sakura sighed as she wished it was step they didn't have to do.

"What's that Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Telling our parents about this," Sakura said flatly and Naruto's happy mood dropped.

Naruto liked that Haruno family, and he wasn't sure how they would react to this. The thing was he hadn't met Ino's parents yet. That might actually work against him too. Then there was how everyone would think about it, he wasn't worried for the most part. Mainly how Tsunade might feel and what she might say about it.

"Thanks for killing the mood Forehead," Ino muttered.

"It had to be said, we can't pretend the problem isn't there." Sakura said back as she pushed off Naruto to face Ino.

Ino did the same as she mirrored Sakura's actions. "Yeah I know, but couldn't we at least enjoy the moment for a bit before you drag it down?"

"Someone has to be the responsible one."

"You're saying I'm not responsible?"

"What about that that first plant you tried to take care of?" Sakura smirked as she was using some of Ino's own memories against her. She had a memory of Ino as a young girl that was tasked with taking care of a plant. She kept forgetting to water it and it had nearly died.

"I was a kid!" Ino said in her defence.

"Wait a minute," Naruto said quickly trying to get between the two. "Can we not argue for the moment? We can deal with it later, but we should deal with it at some point."

He figured that getting both points across would help calm them down. He also suddenly got a feeling that the down side to this new relationship, that he was going to have to play referee between the two when they got like this. For a moment he wasn't sure what would happen but slowly the girls moved back into their previous spots. Naruto sighed, this was definitely going to get some getting used to.

"You know now that we got all this out of the way there are some good things about this," Ino smirked as she faced Naruto.

"Huh?" Naruto said as Ino got a bit closer. Then he felt Ino's lips on his own, they were just as soft and this wasn't like the kiss from before. This one was slow and she was taking her time enjoying it. After a slight shock he closed his eyes as he felt himself fall into the kiss. She felt Ino's hand on his cheek as she made a small pleasured sound from kissing him. Naruto lost all track of time as he got the best kiss in his life.

"Ino, don't hog him all," Sakura snapped as she had been patiently waiting for her turn.

Ino pulled back feeling the blush on her cheeks, that had been a very good kiss. She wondered if it was because things between them were just right or if Naruto was just naturally a good kisser. Now she saw Naruto's dazed expression when Sakura turned his head and watched Sakura and Naruto kiss. Ino would have felt some kind of jealously normally but she trusted Sakura and Naruto. She laid her head on his shoulder as her hand rubbed his chest watching them. When they pulled back both were blushing and smiling at each other.

"So how was it Naruto-kun?" Ino asked teasing him.

Naruto could only grin, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

**Chapter 12: Dropping the Bombshell**

**I've thought about it and if I do make a sequel it will only be Naruto/Sakura/Ino, I already have an idea for a Naruto/Sakura/Hinata/Tenten idea so I'll save Hinata for that story.**


	12. Dropping the Bombshell

**Unforeseen Consequences**

**Chapter 12: Dropping the Bombshell**

Sakura took a breath, it had been a day since she, Ino and Naruto decided to try for relationship between the three of them. But now came the really hard part, telling her parents. She knew she could just not tell them until later, but given how fast news traveled they were bound to hear. Then they would be angry with her for not telling them. Not to say that they might not be totally pleased with things. But both she and Ino agreed to tell their parents and then the Hokage, then their friends. Although at the moment she wanted to tell her parents last.

At least her friends she could deal with, the Hokage, well that would be a challenge, but this was the hardest one. So why in the hell was she started off with this? Maybe it was the medic in her to get it over with as quickly as possible, like pulling off a bandaid. So she gathered her courage with a deep breath and walked out of her room into her home to look for her parents. She had a feeling where they would be at this time in the day. Since the home was only one floor, it took her only a minute to find them.

Motosugu and Saki Haruno were looking over some papers on a table in the living room. They were doing the monthly inventory, what they had, what they sold and what they would need to buy. Her father was a very good businessman and great with people. But her mother always was the best when it came to the numbers and what could they get cheaper somewhere and sold it for a profit here. Sometimes her parents joked that the business they ran helped keep their marriage going.

"Uh...can I have a word with you two?" Sakura asked a little nervous, and given her situation could you blame her?

"What is it dear?" Her mother asked looking up from the papers with her father.

"Uh...well, you see, it's about Naruto and myself," She muttered it was mainly about them to herself.

Her mother got a knowing smile seeing how flustered her daughter was. "Oh so you two got together?" She nearly laughed seeing Sakura's surprised look. "Oh please, I knew there was something going on. Like the way you two kept stealing looks when you thought the other wasn't looking for starters. Then there was how comfortable you two were. We both knew it was only a matter of time."

"I was that obvious?" Sakura sighed. At the time she hadn't been sure just how strong her emotions had been. But her parents knew even before she did? If it was so obvious then how come it took all this time for her to see it? Anyway that wasn't the biggest news that she had to pull off.

"Well he was a nice boy," Her father smiled at her. "So if you're worried we might not approve don't worry about it."

"Yes, and please invite him over to dinner again. I enjoyed having him over." Her mother chimed in.

"Well you see there's something else," Sakura said nervously. "You see, Ino fell for him too and well..."

"Oh no, not this again," Her father sighed leaning back in his chair. He remembered how moody she had been the first week of the break up in her friendship with Ino.

"Oh dear please don't tell me you two are no longer friends again," Mrs. Haruno said to her. She remembered how happy Sakura had been the first day she had made her first friend in Ino. Then when the two split apart over a boy, Sakura hadn't been as happy in life. Sure she tried to hide it, but she could see that Sakura had been lonely all that time. Without her best friend, Sakura just seemed incomplete.

"Well no, we kind of learned our lesson over fighting for boys," Sakura said in all honesty. "So we kind of came to a decision."

"What was it?" Her father asked looking slightly confused. He felt something was going on, his daughter said that she was going out with Naruto. So did Ino give up for them? If so he didn't understand why his daughter seemed to be so nervous.

"Well...you see Ino and myself, we came to the conclusion that since we didn't want anyone to get hurt, and that Naruto wouldn't want to hurt someone by rejecting them. We both went to Naruto with an offer. Ino and myself said that he could...date both of us." She cringed saying that last bit. She really had tried to think of a way to make this seem like a good idea. But hearing it come out like that, made her rethink how she went about it.

There was a silence there as her parents just looked at her. Her father just stared at her while her mother stood up quickly. "Sakura Haruno, what in the world are you talking about?"

Sakura nearly whimpered knowing where this was going. This was going to be a very long talk, but she just hoped that things could get them to accept it. It turned out that it wouldn't be easy to say the least. For two hours Sakura talked with her parents, defending her choices and made sure that it was her choice to accept this. She laid out all her reasons out on the table. Her parents did try to understand her reasoning, although it was a bit hard.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sakura's mother sighed as she saw her daughter was set on this course of action.

"Yes I am, I know it's a strange arrangement but we're willing to at least try it out." Sakura said.

Her father grunted, "As long as Naruto doesn't try to take advantage of this whole thing..."

"Daddy, trust me, Naruto would never take advantage of anyone. I don't think it's in his nature anyway. I just wanted you two to know what is going on. I didn't want any ugly rumors hitting you without knowing the truth. But I am happy with this arrangement."

"Well...as long as your happy," Her father sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He swore this whole thing would give him a few grey ones later tonight. His young daughter was growing up, but certainly not in the way he thought she would. Well she was pretty much a grown woman at this point and he would trust her judgement. Besides he did get a good feeling when he met Naruto, he just hoped his trust wouldn't be misplaced.

For Ino, she was wishing that things had gone over more smoothly. Things started off well enough, she told her parents she got herself a boyfriend. Her mother was understandably giddy at it, this was her only daughter's first boyfriend. Boy would she be in for a surprise later about the circumstances around it. Then her father seemed interested, asking who it was. When she said it was Naruto Uzumaki, she hadn't known what to expect. She honestly had no idea what her parents thought of him, sure things had changed since Naruto was a kid. A lot of his achievements had changed the views of a lot of people.

Thankfully her parents actually seemed pleased with it. Her mother had gone on about how nice it would be to meet him, she heard a lot about the boy lately. Her father just smiled at her, saying that she at least picked a decent boy. Of course before anything else she had to explain the major issue with it, mainly that she wasn't the only girlfriend Naruto had at the moment.

The silence that followed was one that Ino never wanted to sit through again, just waiting for the blow up was hard enough. When it happened it had been her mother at first who asked the most important thing.

Why?

It was kind of funny in a way, when her mother said that. So she went into a very lengthy explanation. How she had tried to go into Naruto's mind for a pay back prank. She caught the worried look in her father's face. She had a feeling he would know about the Nine Tails but her mother didn't seem to know. Most likely because of the secret was to be kept, her father never told her mother the truth. That was a good thing for Naruto that some people could actually keep their mouths shut. Anyways she didn't go into much detail. Only that she got stuck and somehow when he fell asleep he helped her to get out.

She could see her father was reading between the lines, thankfully her mother didn't know about the mind jutsus that came from his side of the family. So her mother just accepted it, although she did berate Ino for trying something like that, then to her surprise turned on her husband for not teaching their daughter better. So she went into how she had started to fall for him, and about how Sakura had come to accept her own feelings for Naruto as well at that time.

She could just by telling on the faces of her parents they were thinking the same thing. 'Oh no, not this again.'

So then she got into how she and Sakura were starting to compete but then how they decided that neither one wanted to hurt the other. When she had to explain that part in depth, it was her father's turn to get mad. He had told her not to use that jutsu yet, in fact he went into a long lecture on the dangers of their mind abilities once again. He also said that he was going to personally see to it that she train better so that something like this wouldn't happen again.

It was a lot like with Sakura's parents, in the end they agreed that they would accept it. Although they did demand that they at least meet Naruto at some point as they wanted to see him for themselves. Ino had to agree to this, hopefully she could put it off until they were calm enough for it. At least that was her hope.

**-Hokage's Office-**

Tsunade was having a stressful day, there was just so much work to do. Thankfully she had someone that was helping her to get through it, well besides Shizune that is. Currently she felt the strong hands of her teammate and now lover rubbing the tension out of her shoulders. It really did help keep things calm and it felt great. Especially when Jiraiya added a little chakra into his hands, this made them warm while also easing the muscles in her body.

"I should look into putting this technique of yours into physical therapy," Tsunade smiled feeling him.

"Well I'm certain I can give you enough lessons, in fact I got a few more tricks with this I can show you." He leaned down and whispered into her ear. "Although I doubt hearing the Hokage cry out in passion would let us be alone for long. So we might want to wait for tonight."

She blushed remembering a few things he had shown her, apparently those dirty books of his must have been inventive. If only they were twenty or thirty years younger, back in her prime she was sure that the two of them could have had some amazing times. Well not that it wasn't bad to say the least, she shook her head seeing where her thoughts were going.

'_God, his perverted nature is already rubbing off me.'_ She thought slightly irritated at that notion.

Outside Naruto was being pushed by a certain long haired blonde and short haired pinkette. "Do we really have to tell her now?" Naruto whined, he really wasn't looking forward to explaining this.

"Yes!" Both girls said at the same time.

"After what we had to go through with our parents this is the least you can do," Ino told him shoving him along.

"And do you honestly think I want to go through with this?" Sakura asked knowing full well just how scary her master could be. She shuddered remembering how sometimes when Tsunade was either hung over or cranky from lack of sleep, the training she gave Sakura had been a nightmare. Ino had been lucky she couldn't get through past the basic medical training and not into the combat classes.

Naruto knew he couldn't escape as they seemed to be keeping an eye on him just in case he tried anyway. When he came to the door he sighed. Normally he'd just bust in loudly but for the first time he actually knocked. He heard some kind of muffled sounds, and smoothing that sounded like Tsunade snapping at someone. It kind of sounded like 'stop it already' or something like that. She called out to enter and Naruto came walking in with the two girls.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at this, since when did Naruto actually bother to knock on her door? Had the boy finally started to learn some manners? She made a mental note to check her lottery ticket number for the day. She noticed Ino and Sakura there with him. Uh oh, them together with Naruto, already the dots were being connected in her mind. She cast a quick glance to Jiraiya and she could tell he was doing the same connections.

"So what can I do for you three?" Tsunade asked them masking her thoughts. She honestly didn't know what would happen now. Were the three of them going to ask for advice, or for a referee? She could see that all three of them were nervous although there was no hostility in the girls. That was odd, last time she saw them, they were all but trying to kill themselves trying to prove who was better. Now she could see a total difference in them. Something had happened, that much she could tell but what had happened, that was the real question.

"Well, as you know there was something going on between Sakura-chan, Ino-chan and myself," Naruto said.

"Yes I remember," Tsunade said with a nod. "I take it that you three finally came to a conclusion." It wasn't a question as it was more a statement. She was very interested to know what they came up with. And she could sense that much in Jiraiya as well.

"Yeah," Naruto scratched the back of his head. "It's like this, Sakura-chan and Ino-chan said that if I wanted to...I could date both of them. So, we kind of are doing that."

Pure silence was in the room as what Naruto said registered into the minds of the two adults. Tsunade managed to get over the shock first this was not what she expected to happen. "Jiraiya, take Naruto out into the hall while I talk with the girls." She said in a controlled manner. Jiraiya cast a look but he could tell this was a time to shut up and do what the boss said. He walked to the door, managing to grab Naruto by the arm and drag him out. Now that she was alone with the two girls she got into a more serious mode. She gave the girls a long hard and very silent look, she could see them fidget a bit which was good. She wanted them nervous.

"Okay you two better explain things and I better like the answer." She said simply.

"Well mainly we didn't want to ruin our friendship over a boy," Ino said not liking the look she was getting. It was like if she said the wrong thing the Hokage would come at her. And that was enough to scare anyone that knew what Tsunade could do.

"Well ruin it again," Sakura said seeing Ino pause knowing that dragging this out wouldn't be any good to either of them. "We both came to the conclusion that we both care for Naruto. We both want to be with him but we also knew that Naruto wouldn't pick one over the other. He's just too nice a guy to hurt anyone in this kind of situation. He likes us both but wasn't sure who he liked more."

"So we kind of made the choice easier," Ino said trying to smile but seeing Tsunade's serious expression she just couldn't muster one. "We already told our parents this, and we got a very long talk."

"No kidding," Sakura sighed remembering this. She made a point to make sure her parents got used to the idea before inviting Naruto over anytime soon. Ino had to nod her own head remembering her own talks with her parents. She still would have to go for extra training with her father because of what she did with Sakura.

"Basically we both really like him and we didn't want to live without trying to have a relationship," Sakura said to her master seriously. "Ino is the closest thing to a sister I have in this world and, and I just don't want to ruin that again. Plus I really like Naruto, we both do and so we both felt that the only way out would be to share him with the other. I know this is weird-"

"I'll say it is," Tsunade said breaking into the conversation for the first time. "So instead you both felt this was the only choice huh?"

"The only one where no one gets hurt," Ino offered. "Plus I trust Sakura and Naruto, and they trust me."

Ino looked to Sakura and saw her friend nod her head in agreement. Ino looked back to the Hokage getting a bit more steel in her belly. "We both want him and he wants us, we're adults and we can have a relationship with him, as unorthodox as it is, if we choose to. We know it won't be easy but it just feels….right to us."

Tsunade sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, this younger generation was going to be the death of her. She just knew it. But in the end she just wanted Naruto to be happy, the boy meant a lot to her. He was like a surrogate son/little brother to her, must in the way he was with Jiraiya as well. During that talk with Sakura on the bridge on that one day, she had never expected this outcome.

"So you two are serious about all of this?" Tsunade she asked seeing them both nod. "I hope you all take responsibilities with this. And I don't want this to affect your ninja duties. I don't want to hear or see that this will put any of you in danger. Having normal relationships between ninja can be tough enough, this I can't even think of all the things that could come up."

"We know and we also know that we have no idea what we can expect," Ino said honestly. "But we want to at least try this out. Naruto makes us happy and we want to make him happy. If that means I have to share him with Sakura, well I can live with that. Naruto already promised not to put one of us ahead of the other which is fair."

Tsunade sighed as she leaned back into her chair, at least they weren't asking for something like being put onto the same team. She knew that some couples tried that out but thankfully they weren't doing it. It was at least one thing she didn't have to deal with. This whole thing was just odd but if this was what Naruto and the girls wanted she would allow it. She did want Naruto to be happy, she just hoped that he knew what he was getting into. Then again, it might be fun to see him deal with these two when things got rough.

"Fine, well I'm glad at least this whole issue has been settled," Tsunade said as she leaned forward on her desk. "You both know how important Naruto is to me, so I don't think I need to go into that you two better treat him well. Because I know he will do everything he can for you two. So be sure you don't take advantage of his good nature, are we clear ladies?"

"Yes, ma'am." Both girls said straightening up a bit. The look and feel coming off the village leader told them that this was no idle threat. If they hurt Naruto, they could expect divine punishment from the Hokage. Tsunade smiled at them and leaned back into her chair with a smile. "Good to know."

Both girls let out a breath, as Sakura took a moment to look at Tsunade. "So...I see that Ero-Sen-I mean-Master Jiraiya was already in here. You two looked to have been very comfortable with each other."

Ino smirked as she saw Tsunade starting to blush a bit. "Oh yeah, so I take it things between you two are going well then?"

Tsunade wished things hadn't been turned around on her like this. She wasn't the one to be put on the spot.

Out in the hallway master and apprentice were both standing in silence. That is until Jiraiya spoke up. "You know this won't be easy right?"

"Yeah, I kind of got that idea already," Naruto told him honestly.

"Well trust me since you three only just started there is a lot more to it." Jiraiya said in a very rare case of being serious. It was odd for Naruto to see his master this serious about the subject. "If you three are on a mission and both the girls are in danger, what would you do? What if you could only save one, would you pick one over the other or freeze up not sure who to pick."

Naruto was shocked by his words. He hadn't thought about that, could he pick one over the other like that? He knew that he couldn't do that, both were precious to him, he would rather sacrifice himself rather than one of them. But what if something like that happened? Plus it wasn't like he could protect them if one was sent on another mission while he was elsewhere. He and Sakura were on the same team, so they would most likely be paired up most of the time. But Ino would go out on a lot of missions without him if things stayed like this. He looked down as he thought about this, he couldn't be there for them all the time. Sometimes he might be placed on different teams than either girl, what would he do if one of them didn't come back?

Jiraiya could see that his charge was thinking about this but he needed to be sure that Naruto was making the right choice. "And what about down the line? What if the girls want to get married or start a family? Will you pick one over the other?"

"That's a little soon isn't it?" Naruto asked him. "We don't know if this will last, I mean this is my first time in a relationship! Now I got two girlfriends and I still don't know what that will mean. Even if it was just one of them, I wouldn't know what to do." He sighed as he really thought about the situation.

He knew that this was very unfamiliar territory for all three of them. But in his heart he wanted to be with both of them. They made him feel complete and loved, they helped to fill a hole in him that he hadn't really known had been there. They were his most precious and he would fight for them, that much he knew. He looked up at his teacher with determination.

"I know that things won't be easy, I know that we don't know what we're really doing. But I care for Sakura-chan and Ino-chan and I don't care what anyone else things! We're together and I want to make them as happy as they make me."

Jiraiya looked at Naruto for a moment before grinning, it seemed that he was becoming a man this day. That was something that he could respect. He clasped a hand onto his shoulder. "Well at any rate, good luck with this. Just one girl can be a handful so I know that this will be hard. But you've never been one to do things the easy way."

Naruto grinned up at the taller man at that.

"So then...out of curiosity," Jiraiya said leaning in a bit. "Just how far have you three gone? I mean two girls at once is a man's dream. Please tell me that you've at least got to feel the difference. I bet that blonde girl is nice and full but maybe you're pink haired girl is pretty firm."

Naruto blinked not sure what he was getting at, at least at first. Then he blushed as he thought about it and took a step back from him. "Damn it, don't talk about them like that Ero-sennin!"

"Ah too bad, not at that level huh?" He sighed and then giggled. "Tell me if I'm right kid, this could be a nice little idea for a book."

"I'm not telling you anything!"

"Come on, if you can't tell me that who will you tell?"

"Not you!"

Jiraiya suddenly got anime style waterfall tears as he looked happy at that moment. "To think that my apprentice managed to get two girls who were okay with him dating both at the same time. You are a true genius, you are my pride as a master. You got to at least tell me how you pulled this one off."

Naruto just grumbled, he hoped the girls would be out soon.

**-Later-**

Naruto, Ino and Sakura were at the ramen stand. After everything they needed a break from everyone. Plus Naruto needed something to eat to calm his nerves and nothing did that like ramen from his favourite place. Although when Ino and Sakura started acting close to him, this meant that they had to tell Ayame and her father what was going on. You'd think that after today seeing the reactions would get old but it wasn't. Ayame had grabbed Naruto's ear and demanded why he was becoming a playboy and toying with the hearts of young women. Thankfully Sakura and Ino could convince her that it had actually been their idea and that it was okay.

Her father hadn't known what to make of it, but if his best costumer was happy then nothing else mattered. Although in his heart he wished the boy luck, he'd need it.

So here they were just eating trying to forget all the trouble they had gone through and it was only the first day of their relationship too. They hoped things would get easier from this point on.

"Are you girls sure about this?" Ayame asked as she refilled Naruto's bowl. "I can't imagine this will be easy. And what about you Naruto? You sure you can keep these girls happy?"

"Well I'll try my best," Naruto told her. "I may not know much about relationships but I do know that I like Sakura-chan and Ino-chan and I'll do everything in my power to make them happy."

That caused both girls to smile at him, because they knew that he meant every word that he said.

Ino snuggled up to him at that point, "And don't forget it works both ways Naruto-kun. Sakura and myself will do our best to make you happy too, isn't that right?" Ino asked Sakura.

Sakura nodded as she mirrored Ino, although blushing slightly, she still wasn't as forward as Ino was but she could do it. "Yes, and remember Naruto, we're all in this together."

"That's right," Ino nodded, "We share everything. Pain, pleasure, joy, sadness, everything."

Naruto felt his cheeks heat up at this, feeling them both like this was very nice plus he felt a warmth in his chest at Ino's words. It was nice to think that he had not one, but two people that would be there for him. It felt like they filled him as he knew that he would have them in his life. It was kind of like when he was first put into Team 7. He felt like he was a part of something for the first time in his life, only now it seemed even bigger and better than that. He was part of something special of that he had no doubt. Although he had no idea how long this might last, he hoped it would be for a very long time.

Sakura relaxed as she got used to it, slipping her arm in his as she rested her head on his should looking up at him. He really had matured over the years, sure he was still a kid at heart but that was part of his charm. She had seen the bravery he had, always pushing himself to be accepted and never letting others tell him who or what he was. She envied that, she had wished she had his spirit when she was younger. Plus he had become handsome over the years, all the baby fat was gone something she had noticed when he first got back. But she did feel comfortable with Naruto here, even with Ino on the other side there was no real jealously. Because she knew that Naruto's heart was big enough for them both.

Ino liked the feel of his arm and shoulder as she was mirroring Sakura on his other side. Naruto was a good man. She had never seen him other than the loud mouth ninja who claimed would become Hokage. She now saw the real Naruto, the one on the inside and she liked what she saw.

"Hey guys what's going on?" A new voice called to them as they looked over their shoulder as Kakashi and Yamato walked in. Both men looked at the scene, they had been looking for Naruto hoping to see how things had gone. By the looks of each girl on an arm, and neither of them fighting said it all to them. Kakashi wasn't sure if he should laugh or not, somehow Naruto once again surprised him by coming up with a very unexpected way to resolve his problem. One of these days he was going to learn not to be surprised by his student.

"I don't believe it," Yamato said looking at the scene, turning to Kakashi. "How does he do it?"

Kakashi only smiled with a chuckle, "No idea. Well looks like things are going well. We were a little worried yesterday but I'm glad to see that things are working out between you three."

The three teens blushed a bit and nodded.

Kakashi chuckled at the sight. "Well, we'll leave you three alone for now." Kakashi knew that the three would want some alone time so he and Yamato left the stand. They walked down the road as Kakashi couldn't stop the smile behind his mask. "You know I think we're going to gain some interesting times."

"I'm more worried when the fights and arguments start. Hopefully he'll be able to get through that, how long do you think this will last, sempai?"

Kakashi thought about it as they wondered the road. "You know, I honestly don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if he can find a way for this to last to be honest. Only time will tell."

**Next up Chapter 13: Out in the Open**

**Well the next chapter will either be the last or second last of the story. Next up I'll deal with the Hinata issue as well as their friends, with them actually trying to date and then wrap things up.**


	13. Out in the Open

**Unforeseen Consequences**

**Chapter 13: Out in the Open**

After eating the three teens decided to spend a little time with just themselves. After the entire morning of telling their family, or in Naruto's case the closest he had to family, they just needed some 'them time' at the moment. Plus with all the stress, this moment just seemed a nice opportunity to relax. Naruto walked along the streets with each girl at his side. They were just talking at the moment about nothing really. Mainly they just wanted to avoid the issues they dealt with.

"So Naruto there is something I've been wondering," Ino asked him as they walked on. "You've learned a lot since you were a genin. I mean summoning, those different rasengans and stuff, so where else will you go from here? I mean I don't have anything even close to that stuff."

Naruto hadn't really thought about it, he really wasn't sure to be honest. The girls could see him thinking and knew that he had no idea. Naruto was becoming one of the strongest ninja in the world. Although he didn't have a thousand jutsus like someone like Kakashi, the ones he did know were more powerful than most.

"Maybe you should work on your wind chakra more," Sakura put in remembering all the training he had put himself through. "I mean you put it into your rasengan but what about other jutsus?"

Naruto thought about it, it did make some sense as he know knew his chakra was wind based and now he could use it in other ways. He smiled broadly at Sakura, "Hey that's a good idea, but where can I learn more wind techniques? The only people I know are Temari and she's in Suna." Naruto was about to mention Asuma, but he didn't. He knew how much it would hurt Ino to bring up her former sensei.

He cast a quick look to Ino but she was looking ahead smiling, he mentally sighed at that. He didn't want to bring up painful memories. He saw Sakura give Ino a quick glance of worry as well but she recovered quickly that Naruto doubted that Ino noticed. What either of them didn't know was that she had noticed, but she was okay with it. Sure it still hurt but she didn't want people to tip toe around the issue forever. But she didn't want to open that old wound just yet, so she was thankful that Naruto didn't bring it up.

"Well I'm certain we can find a few things," Ino said trying to put her mind on the issue at hand. "Does Jiraiya know of any wind?"

Naruto thought about it, "Not sure, I don't remember him using any during our training..."

"Well, how about going to sign out a scroll?" Ino offered. "There are scrolls that only shinobi can access...although given you're still technically a genin you would only be allowed access to the low level stuff."

"Ino," Sakura said sharply seeing Naruto's mood go into a depressive state. Ino winced, she forgot that the fact that he was still a genin was a sore spot.

"Hey, when is the next chunin exams anyway?" Ino asked hoping to get him back in the mood. "I mean I'm sure this time you'll be able to take it and with your skills you'll easily go through it. I mean there are still members from our class that aren't chunin yet. Most don't even get into it until after two or three years, sometimes more."

"Yeah she's right," Sakura said trying to cheer him up. "I mean a few members didn't even make it past their genin exams I think. I've seen a few people from our class here and there but only a few made it to chunin. I'm sure that you can be put with them next time, in fact we could ask Tsunade about it next time we see her."

Naruto gave a small smile at their words. Although it was true, besides the ones he usually were with, he didn't know how the others students in his graduating class were doing. Although personally he didn't really care much about them as usually they were the ones that didn't give him the time of day or teased him the most. He hadn't really thought about them, and he wondered if they had changed over the years. Everyone had grown to various degrees since those days.

Sakura had grown up out of her fan girl phase and into a powerful and well respected medical nin that was said to be second only to Tsunade. Ino had become more serious a ninja and was training hard to make herself better. Everyone had become stronger among his friends and he suddenly realized something. Even if he was a genin, he had done a lot of things. He had faced and fought powerful ninja like Orochimaru, been to far off lands, trained under two legendary ninja, and he had gone from being the dead last to a really good ninja.

He wasn't the same kid as he used to be either, he had grown some himself. He took one of their hands in his as they walked together. "Thanks, and you know what, I think I'll do that. She owes me anyway given I couldn't even come back to join a chunin exam. It's about time I started to catch up with everyone."

"Now that's the Naruto we know," Ino said with a giggle seeing the fire in him return.

"Hey what's going on here?"

The three teens were surprised to hear Kiba's voice as they turned to face Team Kurenai. Kiba was there with his, now massive, dog Akamaru. Shino was there and also Hinata as they looked to be heading towards the tower. Kiba had on a curious look at them, Shino...well it was hard to tell what he was thinking since his change in clothing. Hinata however, her eyes were wider than normal as she looked at the scene.

"Oh you guys just get back?" Naruto asked totally forgetting he was holding each girl's hand.

"Yeah," Kiba paused and looked again at the interlocked hands. "So I'll ask again, why are you three holding hands like that? Almost looks like a couple or something, you'll give people the wrong idea." He joked, little did he know that he had hit it on the head.

The threesome looked between each other, silently debating who would say something. It was Ino that took the initiative. After dealing with her parents and Tsunade, their friends were going to be easy to deal with. "Well I guess you're pretty observant, because we were out for a little date at the moment."

Now the other team looked a little confused, especially Kiba. "Huh? What you and Naruto, Ino? Then how come he's holding Sakura's hand too?"

"That's because I'm also involved," Sakura said blushing a little. "Ino and myself are both dating Naruto."

There was a pause between them, Shino actually has both eyebrows raised up, for him that was the most expressive they had seen him in a year. Kiba looked to be slowly turning the gears in his head, as the full meaning behind it, he was thinking about. Hinata, well she looked like she had turned to stone.

"So...how the hell did this happen in the time we were gone?" Kiba finally asked them.

"Long story," All three of the pair said at once.

"We'll fill you guys in later," Ino said not wanting to go through this whole thing all over again. "If you don't mind though the three of us had had a long day. We want some private time."

"O-oh sure," Kiba said making room as the threesome couple walked off. Kiba looked after them before breaking into a laugh. "Oh man why is it that Naruto can never do anything normal? I mean how long has he been after Sakura?"

"For as long as I can remember," Shino commented still looking at the leaving three friends.

"Yeah and not only does he finally get her, but Ino too?" Kiba shook his head at that. "Man I swear you just never know with that guy. I'm not sure I envy him or not, although the first guy to be paired up and he gets two girls. Man he always over does things, eh Hinata?"

There was a pause when he looked to see that Hinata was still frozen in her form. "Hinata...hey you okay?"

Hinata wasn't sure if she could answer that if she could. All this time she had admired Naruto from afar, too timid and afraid to go up to him. She had a deep crush on the boy, her first and only so far to be honest. And yet because she could never do anything about it, not one but two girls managed to get Naruto's affection. She wasn't sure what to think on it all, she was confused and didn't know what to do, to think or feel.

As such, news like this was quick to get around. Especially among ninja, since information gathering is something certain ninja excel at. Also when it's someone like Naruto, things really take on a life of their own. In a few hours pretty much all the ninja had heard about this. That was when Kakashi and Yamato who had decided to take some time to relax found many asking questions. Mainly it was to see if the rumors were true, others were asking if there was a pool on how long it would last.

They were currently having a few friendly drinks with at a bar that ninja liked to hang out in. It was one of those places where they could just sit back and relax. There were a few in every ninja village of course, usually with some kind of ninja themed name to it all. Usually the drinks were cheap for ninja, plenty of room, decent food and the if the owner didn't complain about how rowdy his clients got, usually it lasted. The place they were in, was one of those types of places.

"I swear it's like a ninja can't drink in peace anymore," Kakashi muttered holding his drink. It was getting kind of annoying to be interrupted every now and then for questions about Naruto, Ino and Sakura.

"I saw it and I still can't believe it," Yamato said slightly swaying. He had been putting them away a bit faster than Kakashi, as Kakashi liked to savour his drinks. "I think it's started to make me depressed."

"Depressed?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, I mean I can't remember the last time I went out with a woman. Then he shows up with two girls," Yamato sighed.

"You need to get out more then." Kakashi said to him. He noticed someone coming up to him, thankfully he placed himself on Yamato's right, this way he wasn't blinded. It was just something he did out of repetition since he got his new eye. He was basically half-blind most of the time, so he had to learn to adapt. He turned his head slightly to see Iruka walking towards them.

"You look like a man that could use a drink," Kakashi said looking at the chunin teacher.

"I need one," Iruka said as he sat down next to Kakashi. "Just ran into Naruto earlier."

"Ah, say no more," Kakashi said and then looked to the bar tender. "Better make whatever he orders a double."

"I always knew that Naruto was different but this certainly goes right up there, with originality for him." Iruka laughed a little. It was such a Naruto thing for him to do, of course he had been shocked, well he still was shocked, but the young man was not the kid he had taught. He had grown, as all of them, but he never expected anything like this. He remembered the days when Sakura and Ino wouldn't give the poor boy the time of day. It was kind of funny really, as he looked back on it.

He bet if those two girls knew the future back then, they wouldn't have believed a word of it.

"He's got way too much luck," Yamato said downing his drink.

"True, but given his rash actions it's what's helped to keep him alive," Kakashi put in.

"Let's hope that luck will keep him alive with Sakura and Ino," Iruka told him. "I know very well how badly those two can get at times."

**-Earlier-**

Naruto had said goodbye to Ino and Sakura as they had to split up. Sakura was going to swing by Ino's place to pick up some flowers her mother wanted for the shop. As they walked both girls felt eyes on them and a few whispers. Just how much did people know about it and was it really that big news? Sakura sighed as she figured this would keep up for a couple of weeks at least.

"Just ignore them," Ino said looking ahead almost like she didn't notice what Sakura had. "You always did worry too much about what others thought."

"Yeah I know," Sakura admitted, "Thankfully I mostly grew out of that. But seriously it's starting to annoy me. Why is this just big news anyway?"

"Well Naruto has gotten pretty popular lately." Ino admitted as she too had heard people talking about him. A lot of people actually respected Naruto these days, which was just as well given how most people had ignored him in life. She had figured something like this would have happened anyway, she just wanted to focus on what's important anyway.

It was then that she noticed a familiar person sitting on a bench drawing. "Oh there's Sai, too bad he lost his chance with me, I hope he's not too heart broken over the news. If only he asked me out earlier, then he might had stood a chance." Ino said feeling pleased with herself that she could attract the attention of the good looking guys.

Sakura scowled a bit, she still thought it was unfair how Sai called her a hag, or ugly or other such things. While Ino of all people, she got the good things like gorgeous or beautiful. The world just wasn't fair, Ino wasn't that better looking was she? Sakura knew that Ino had a better chest, most girls did something that Sakura was very sensitive about, but honestly was it that big a difference? Or did Sai have a thing for blondes or something? At any rate she saw Ino had already waved and called out to him when they got close.

Thankfully Sai had stopped with the nicknames, it was one of the things Sakura was grateful for. She really didn't want to drag him to the hospital for the physical trauma she would put him through, if he tried those stupid nicknames on her again. She was in no mood for that stuff today.

"So Sai, what are you drawing today?" Ino asked trying to get a look at his sketch pad.

"Just some scenery today." Sai said simply as he showed that on the paper were the buildings from across the street.

"So have you heard the news about us and Naruto yet?" Ino asked hoping the guy wouldn't take it too hard. But after all, she was a catch.

"Oh I knew about that a long time ago," Sai said simply as he pulled out a notebook. "Jiraiya had me reporting to him Naruto's progress with you two. He was very informative with information collecting techniques. I must admit, I have been learning some new tricks thanks to him."

That statement left the girls speechless, it was too bad that Jiraiya hadn't told Sai not to tell the girls any of this. He just figured since they were friends it wouldn't do any harm.

"Wait you mean you knew, in fact you were watching us the entire time?" Ino asked finally finding her voice.

"Of course," Sai said to her. "It was most interesting to see and I think it helped in my research into human behaviour."

"So...you weren't jealous or anything?" Ino asked him. She could see why he could do such a thing unless maybe he was jealous. After all she thought he had liked her all this time. He seemed like a good guy too, it was just that he always went on missions with Naruto and Sakura, that they never really got to talk other than that one time. Sure they saw each other here and there but she had thought there had been something.

"Of what?" Sai asked innocently.

"Of what?" Ino asked a little angry now. "I thought you liked me, didn't you say I was gorgeous?"

"Oh I think there is a misunderstanding," Sai said to Ino as he was starting to realise her mistake. "You see, with what happened with Sakura, I decided not to make nicknames on what I thought about people. So I did the opposite in order to see if that would work better, what I really thought as their key characteristic."

"Oh okay then, well-wait a minute!" Ino suddenly realized what that meant. Sakura however was grinning gleefully at this. There was finally some justice in the universe it would seem. "You mean to tell me that you don't find me good looking!?" Ino yelled out.

"No, why should I?" Sai asked seriously with that damn smile of his.

Ino looked like she was going to hit him over what he said but was holding it in. Sakura meanwhile was trying not to laugh, she would do that later when she wasn't with Ino. It seemed that there was a bright side to all of this after all.

"Sakura-san!"

'_Then again,'_ Sakura groaned inward at the sound of that familiar voice. She should have remembered this but honestly it had slipped her mind. Sakura, Ino and Sai looked to see Lee running over to them. He stopped dead in front of Sakura.

"Please tell me that it isn't true, please tell me that I have no lost Sakura-san's heart to Naruto-kun!" Lee asked her.

Ino nearly laughed at the scene, mainly from Sakura's expression it was priceless to her.

"Sorry Lee, but yeah, I'm with Naruto now." Sakura knew she should have told him this sooner but in all honesty, there hadn't been any real time. He was a nice guy, just not her type of guy, maybe if he toned down the 'flames of youth' and also wear something other than that jump suit sometimes. She honestly hadn't seen him in anything other than that. Even on his time off he wore that, while everyone else tended to go into more civilian attire.

Lee fell to his knees as waterfall tears seem to show up on his face. "Naruto-kun you truly are a worthy person to be a rival with! You have captured the heart of the beautiful Sakura-san, you have shown yourself a true man!"

"Oh god," Sakura groaned as she palmed her face. Lee was making things very embarrassing, thankfully she noticed a saviour coming running up to them. Tenten was running very hard to catch up with Lee, she was breathing hard by the time she got caught up.

"Damn it Lee, I told you not to run off like that!" Tenten shouted at him. She had been with him when he heard the news. Then he took off like only Lee or Gai could, she had to push herself to her limits just to keep him within sight. She knew he would go off on something like this and wanted to limit the damage.

"Sorry about that," Tenten said as she slowly got her wind back. "But I take it, that it's really true then?"

"Yeah it is," Sakura smiled happily.

"Oh my god that is so great!" Tenten jumped up and glomped the girl. What many didn't know about Tenten was that even though she was a bit of a tomboy, she was a sucker for romance. When it came to that, she could become just as girly as any other girl her age. "Man he's been after you for years, so what happened, what made you change your mind?"

Ino coughed as she really didn't want to be left out of this. "Actually there is more to it."

"Yeah," Sakura said as she got out of Tenten's surprisingly strong grip. "You see Naruto isn't just seeing me, he's seeing Ino too."

Tenten and Lee's mouth dropped open at that.

"How unyouthful, Naruto you were not happy with Sakura-san, so you cheat behind her back with Ino-san!" Lee yelled out.

"I can't believe this, he seemed like such a good guy," Tenten said to the girls. "I mean when did you learn he was dating the both of you?"

"Uh, no you don't understand," Ino said sweat dropping a bit. "Sakura and myself asked Naruto to date the both of us."

"It's a long story," Sakura said getting tired of this. "Long story short, Ino and me both wanted Naruto, we didn't want to go through that whole thing we had with Sasuke again, we asked Naruto to share, her idea by the way, and here we are." She said in one breath. Honestly maybe she could make pamphlets or something. It would certainly save time given how many times she had to go through this.

"Wait this was your idea?" Tenten looked at Ino. "So how does this kind of thing work anyway?"

Ino shrugged, "We're just going with the motions at the moment. But so far I think things are going well. All though my parents do want to meet him."

"Yeah same here," Sakura sighed, at least she knew that her parents actually liked Naruto. "Maybe we should compare dates, we don't want to put him through too much in the same week."

"Oh yeah, oh and we should think about things like a decent schedule." Ino thought out loud. "I mean you still go to the hospital at times to help out and my dad is putting me through extra training. We should think what days we're free for Naruto."

Sakura hadn't thought about that, it was true that they would have to work things out in advance. They didn't want to take too much of Naruto's time anyway. Then again when he had time off he usually just ate ramen and trained. Then what about missions? Those could take some time depending on how things went. She might have to give Ino a few days more with Naruto after those, just to be fair, as Sakura figured she would be with Naruto on most missions.

"Well it looks like you guys are on the same page," Tenten smiled at them. "Well I wish you guys good luck with all of this."

"Tenten, how can you easily agree to this?" Lee asked her.

"Lee, if they're happy then who are we to say it's wrong? I mean they made a choice and they'll take any consequences of that choice." Tenten told him honestly. She looked back at the girls with a wink, "Just be sure to tell me all the good points."

"Oh I know I will," Ino said grinning. "First off, he's a really good kisser."

**-Naruto's Apartment-**

Naruto was just about to get home, he had been planning something special one the way there. He maybe have been new to the whole dating thing, but he really wanted to show how much he cared. Plus with everything going on, maybe some time for just them would be nice to have. It would take some planning but he wanted to make sure it was perfect. In the mean time he could always take them on normal dates. Although he got the feeling that taking all three of them would be hard sometimes.

Maybe he could spread it out, date one girl and then date the other to even things out. He had a lot to think about but he was happy. Despite how strange it was, he truly was happy with things. He pulled out his key as he unlocked his door.

"N-Naruto-kun?" He turned to see it was Hinata, he had been so caught up in thought he hadn't heard her coming.

"Hey Hinata, what's up?" he smiled at her.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you?" Hinata asked him. She had been wondering what to do the entire day and she felt that she needed to talk to him. She had to settle this or it would drive her crazy. All day long she had been thinking on 'what ifs' and 'should haves' and she couldn't take it anymore.

"Well sure, come on in at least." He offered as he opened the door.

She had never been inside of his apartment before, it did look a little dirty but it was very lived in and comfortable feel about it. It could use a little cleaning and dusting but overall it was very pleasant place to her. Back home, everything was so neat and tidy all the time, she really hadn't known that other people didn't live the same way until she once visited Kiba's place to get him for a mission.

"So what's up Hinata?" Naruto asked her.

"W-Well I was just wondering how things were going," Hinata said to him. It was the truth, she did wonder how things were going with him. A part of her mind was actually wondering if he would mind another girl, she didn't mind sharing as long as it was him. But given the reaction her family might take, and she didn't want to burden him either, those reasons prevented her from asking such a thing. Plus it wasn't just Naruto, as Ino and Sakura were also involved in this.

"Oh? Well things are going great actually?" He said smiling broadly as he thought about things. Sure it hit a little rough area but over all, he was happy with how things turned out.

"So, you're happy? You know with this arrangement, I know it can't be easy." Hinata said to him wondering about this question.

Naruto didn't really have to think on the answer, he knew exactly what to say to this. "I know it will be rough and it won't be easy." He said in a more serious tone. Then a small smile grew on his face, this was one of his true smiles, the ones that only showed up when he was really happy. Not the large exaggerated ones he used all the time, and Hinata could tell the difference.

"But I really do care for them. I know that I've loved Sakura-chan for a long time, but with Ino-chan, well as I got to know her the more I started to fall for her. Both girls are different but are similar too. It's hard to explain but each of them means the world to me. I'd fight for them, die for them and I want to see them happy because they've made me happy."

"They'll be there for me when I need them just like I will be there for them. I've never had a bond like this with anyone and it feels really great. I mean, I never even thought of Ino-chan in this way before. In fact if events hadn't happened the way they did, I most likely would never have noticed her as more than a friend."

"But now, well now I love them both," Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I mean I didn't expect it to happen. I guess you never know how many times you can fall in love, I never even thought I could love anyone other than Sakura-chan."

"So it's possible to love more than one person?" Hinata asked him. "I-I mean what if you did like someone, but they only thought of you as a friend?"

"Huh?" Naruto blinked as he did have to think about it. "Well I guess you might have to work on it. I mean it worked with me and Sakura-chan after all."

"B-but what if this person is already in a relationship?" Hinata asked him. She didn't think she could come out and say exactly what her dilemma was. So she would go about it in a around about way.

"Well then I guess there is nothing you can really do," Naruto said more seriously as he sat down on his couch thinking back. "I think one of the reasons all my attempts failed as a kid, was because Sakura-chan was all into Sasuke. I didn't stand a chance back then. I know that she liked him, maybe even loved him, first but she moved on. I was just lucky enough to be there for when she did."

Hinata thought about what he had said, she hadn't thought about that before. She did care for him, but he knew that he already had two girls that he had given himself to. It would be unfair to him to ask to try for three. Plus maybe there was something to it, she had never told him her feelings, even now she couldn't bring herself to do it. Maybe if things had been different, but she couldn't life in the past, Neji had and it had turned him into something he regretted.

She knew that Naruto would always hold a special place in her heart, but maybe she should do what Sakura had done. Move on and find someone that she could give her heart to and have it returned. Although she still felt empty inside, she did also feel a bit better about it. No matter what, she would still be his friend. Maybe one day if things didn't work out and they were both single things could be different. Now, it was time to maybe become truly strong and move forward with her life.

She stood up giving him a slight bow, "Thank you for your time and for your advice Naruto-kun."

"Huh, oh okay then. Well I'm not sure what I helped with but I'm glad to help out," He said smiling broadly.

**Next up Chapter 14: Epilogue**

**I thought about it and the next chapter will be the last one. Honestly I got no more ideas for this, so for all those who want to see it continued let me make a deal with you all. I'll take time to plan out a sequel for this, I think I'll call if Actions and Consequences. It will have more plot, action and other things in there. Think of this as just the set up for what's to come but I want to plan it out to get it right.**


	14. Epilogue

**Unforeseen Consequences**

**Chapter 14: Epilogue**

It had been almost a month since Ino, Sakura and Naruto had decided to become a three paired couple. Thankfully things were getting back to a sense of normal for them. Although their friends joked now and then about the odd relationship, they had come to just accept and go with it. They really didn't have a problem with it, maybe even wondering what it was like at times. Sakura and Ino's parents were pretty much used to it by now. As for the girls, they were doing well with things. It was a bit odd to work out how much time to spend between them, it was working out.

Sure there were the few arguments over simple thing, but nothing major. Usually they squabbled over little things but in the end they worked it out. Naruto played peace keeper sometimes and then Ino and Sakura would double team on him, usually for his own good. Either to get him to stop training himself to exhaustion, to make sure he was eating well, kept his place clean and things like that. It had its ups and downs but it worked out fairly well over all. If it would go the distance is pretty much the thought of everyone at this point. Some thought it would last only a few months, some were more optimistic than that.

At the moment Ino and Sakura were out with Tenten and Hinata on a girl's day out. It was something they did now and then recently, mainly because sometimes they needed to have some time alone with just them. It was nice to relax among other girls, and the four of them were pretty close. Hinata, Ino and Sakura had lost touch with anyone else from their age group, Tenten was so tomboyish that most girls in her class hadn't been close to her. Tenten didn't mind, she was never into the girly stuff anyway. Besides these girls were the closest females friends she ever had.

At the moment they were sitting outside a cafe, it was a nice day so they were out for some drinks. Mostly just tea at the moment, even though as a ninja they were considered legal adults, they just weren't up for drinking anything alcoholic, at least not until they were older.

Tenten sighed as she rested her head against the table.

"Rough day?" Ino asked amused at the brunette's actions.

"Yeah, " Tenten moaned. "Gai-sensei wanted to do some extra training today. So we all showed up early this morning, and I only just got done a couple of hours ago."

"B-but's it's nearly four in the afternoon." Hinata said to her surprised by the time. She never trained that long, at least not without breaks now and then. No wonder Neji was so strong if he trained like that with Gai and even did training at the compound as well. Then again, her older cousin was already a full jonin.

"I know, believe me I know," Tenten moaned. "You'd think with years experience I'd be used to it by now. I don't think I can move my legs now even if my shoes were on fire."

Sakura winced remembering her own training under Tsunade, some days she could just go home after training and crawl straight into her bed. Then when she woke up the next day, she felt swore all over and still tired, but she had pushed on. It did get easier later on, but that first year had been hard.

Ino also looked sympathetic to the older girl, lately her father had been drilling her on the family jutsus, her father still wasn't letting up with her mishandling it. She was learning a few new tricks but her father was a stern task master when he could be. She still had a punch of scrolls that he would test her on in a month. If she failed, no dates for a week and she would spend her free time studying. Ino had started to take the scrolls to the flower shop when she had to cover and when it got slow there. It was times like this she wished she had Sakura's knack for studying. She had always been great in that, in school, or with learning to be a medic. Ino was about average but she had suspected that Sakura had a great memory, maybe even close to a photographic one.

"So please tell me how things are going with Naruto?" Tenten asked. "I need something juicy to take my mine off today."

Sakura rolled her eyes while she blushed a bit, "That's all you seem to want to know lately."

"Well it's the only relationship going on," Tenten exclaimed. "I mean Hinata and myself are single as is everyone else we know. I need something to live vicariously through, who knows when I'll ever find time for dating with missions and Gai-sensei's training."

"You actually want to date?" Hinata asked her, this was the first she had ever heard of this.

"Well I wouldn't mind trying it," Tenten admitted, "Those two are too happy is seems lately and so maybe I'm missing out on something I figure. Plus how many good guys are even left?"

"Well how about Neji?" Ino asked as she smiled at her, "I mean he's on your team so you know him well enough and I have to admit he's kind of hot."

Hinata looked surprised at Ino and then to Tenten who looked like she might be considering it. She wasn't sure how she felt about it, but if Neji was happy she would be for it. Plus it might be good for her cousin, all he did was train and missions. He could use something else in his life she figured.

"Well if it doesn't work it might screw up the team," Tenten sighed as she pushed that thought away for now.

"Oh please," Sakura said to her. "Did you forget I'm dating my teammate? Not to mention the relationship I share with Ino with him, if we can make that work that would be nothing."

That caused the girls to break out in laughs, it had become more of a joke now between them about their relationship. That if they could get that off the ground, then anything else would be easy in comparison. It was all in good humour anyway so the three of them didn't mind.

"So are there any perks to dating Naruto?" Tenten asked. "You two kind of avoided that earlier."

"Well...it is nice that he has an apartment all to himself," Ino admitted. "I mean it's so good to have a place where we can all be alone. No one watching us and no one getting in the way, it's really nice." Ino sighed remembering the moments alone they had.

Sakura blushed a bit as she was just as guilty as taking advantage of that. "It is nice, nicer now that he keeps his apartment nice and clean."

"Oh yeah," Ino agreed. "It's nice not having to see days old food just laying out, or underwear and other clothing just thrown around the place. I'm honestly surprised he was able to find anything before."

"Well he did clean up before he left on his training trip with Jiraiya," Sakura admitted as she as well as a few other of Naruto's friends looked after his place for him while he was gone. Mainly to dust and make sure everything was okay for when he got back. "I think living alone for all his life made him so relaxed that he just didn't care about keeping the place clean before."

"Sounds like you two are really working on improving him a bit," Tenten smirked.

"He's a work in progress," Sakura and Ino said at the same time. It was an odd thing they did now and then and people had started to notice, especially Naruto. So they had given the full story to their friends and everyone that asked. How Ino and Sakura had shared their memories of Naruto, but it short of went a little further. Every now and then you'd also catch the odd personality quirk being done by the other. Sakura would make for a motion of pulling on a bang that wasn't there, or Ino would crack her knuckles before hitting something, that was something Ino never got into the habit of doing before.

They also had explained to Naruto, how Ino had entered his mind and that weird dream he had was actually real. Ino confessed to peeking at his most private memories but he was surprisingly fine with it. Well, he was a little put off at first but he came to accept it as an accident.

"Plus you know, he can be very romantic when he puts his mind to things," Sakura said to the group.

"Naruto-kun is romantic?" Hinata asked. She had always wondered what it would be like to date Naruto and how he would be. At least with this, she could see what might have been. She didn't let it get to her, she just filed it away as nice to know. She had started to move on a bit with her feelings, she was sure a part of her would never totally let him go, but she could get on with her life anyway.

"Oh yeah," Ino smirked remembering a few things. "Did you know that he went all the way across town to buy me flowers, my favourites too, just so I wouldn't know? He placed them on my bed somehow too. I think he broke in through the window as my parents never saw him."

Sakura giggled at that, she had the same thing done to her. "We went out on this dinner and he tried so hard to be a gentleman. I think he's been taking lessons from someone. He tried so hard to be polite and eat slowly, I could see it was killing him inside. So after dinner, I took him for a bowl of ramen, on me, as a reward for trying so hard."

"Ah the ramen reward," Ino nodded her head. "I swear, he likes that more than a kiss reward." She pouted as she crossed her arms. She didn't like the idea of food, beating in with her boyfriend's affections. There was just something wrong about that.

"Man he sounds like he really goes all out," Tenten said feeling a little jealous now.

"Oh yeah but he gets reward," Ino smirked remembering the last make out session. She still had a small kicky on her neck that thankfully her high neck top was hiding. She really didn't want her parents to see that. She knew they had an idea of what she got up to with him, but an idea and the reality were two different things.

"Also…the shadow clones," Sakura said softly with a blush on her face.

"Oh god yes," Ino moaned with a smile.

Tenten and Hinata both blushed as mental images were being brought up into their minds.

"Uh…you two aren't talking about…well…" Tenten trailed off. "I…didn't even know your relationship had progress to that point."

"Uh?" Ino blinked as Sakura's face went totally red now. "Whoa not that!" Ino said blushing herself. "we haven't done…that…yet. I just meant that he gives killer massages. He uses shadow clones too, you know one for the each foot and leg then another behind use for our shoulders. That's what I meant."

"Oh good," Tenten sighed, she really didn't need that kind of information with shadow clones. Although now she couldn't get the image out of her mind, she cast a look to Hinata who was blushing to hard it looked like all the blood had gone to her face.

"Y-yeah," Sakura stammered. "We have done a few things, but nothing like that. It's still too early and Ino and I want it to be special."

Ino nodded her head and then tilted it to the side as she thought about something. "Although…maybe after we finally get to that point, I wonder what it would be like to have two Naruto-kuns at the same time."

"Ino!" Sakura yelled out as the mental image of two or more Narutos with her. A drop of blood ran down her nose as she quickly wiped it away.

"Ha!" Ino pointed at the other girl. Honest, she just didn't understand why Sakura was so uptight when it came to things like this. "You can't deny what you were thinking at that moment now forehead. Just admit your inner pervert already."

"I don't have an inner pervert," Sakura hissed out in a lowered tone. The last thing she needed to do was to yell that out in broad daylight with who knows who listening to that.

"Oh please I think everyone is to some extend. Some more than others," Ino thought about it. "I mean I know Naruto is."

"What, since when?" Tenten asked about that.

"Sexy Jutsu," Sakura remarked in a deadpan tone. Thankfully he hadn't used that in a very long time, even if it was a bit disturbing that Naruto made for a pretty girl in that form. That was a road she didn't want to travel on, it led to all kinds of bad thoughts that she wanted to avoid.

"Yeah," Ino laughed at that, "But he's surprisingly good compared to his teachers. I mean let's face it, Kakashi is a porn reading addict, and then he was on a training trip with the world's biggest pervert. It's amazing he wasn't totally ruined by those two."

"Yeah you have a point there," Sakura sweat dropped at that comment. It was true, the thought of Naruto coming back as a mini-Jiraiya was not a pleasant one. She liked Naruto just the way he was and she didn't want him to change that much. Just have him be more careful, clean up now and then and try to think before he acted. Everything else was just fine and perfect for her and she knew that Ino felt the same way.

**-Hokage's Tower-**

Tsunade looked out over the village it had been quiet lately, which was never a good thing. It just meant a storm could be coming, then again Naruto had been away for nearly three years and it had been quiet. She smirked at that thought Naruto had a habit of just drawing trouble without knowing it. As soon as he set foot in the village, the Kazekage had been kidnapped and everything else that had happened after it, like some kind of chain reaction. But still, a break from it all was nice if it was only a breather.

She had a break herself at the moment as she liked to look over the village. It was strange how she had avoided her home for so long. She knew that she had been wrong to just run away from everything and who knew the kind of things she had missed out on. Then again maybe if a certain pervert had been around she would have stuck around. Although she never admit it, she missed him when he went off on his training with the toads. Then when he wondered the lands looking for this child of prophecy he was supposed to train. When she first heard his reasons for going off on his own, she nearly laughed. But he had been uncharacteristically serious.

During the war when they fought together she felt something for him, he was no longer the immature boy she had known. He had grown to be a great ninja, still immature, but she respected him. When he went off to train those three orphans she wanted to either stay or have him come back with her. She felt lonely without him around, Orochimaru had never been the type for social interactions. She thought back to how glad she had been when she saw him return. When the war was over she wanted him to return with her, she even hinted that she wanted him, personally, to come home. But when he heard his students had been killed it sent him wondering again.

He had been there for her when her younger brother had died but he had not stayed. She was alone and suddenly there was Dan. She did love him, he was impossible not to. But his death and ripped her apart and she refused to let anyone else get that close again. It took years and a loud mouth blonde brat to open her heart again. Here she was, back home, as Hokage of all things and she had finally opened her heart again. A part of her wished she was as young as she looked, at fifty years old what hope did she have to have a family of her own? That time had come and gone it seemed. She would have loved to have had a family to raise, and it would keep Jiraiya around as well. But if there was one thing age gave it was to know what to hold on to.

She had love in her life again and she didn't want to lose it another time.

"You look deep in thought," Jiraiya stated. He had been watching her for awhile now, he loved the way the light hit her when she was looking out like that. Personally he didn't see the problem with her age, not long ago he had asked her to drop the genjustu while they were alone. It took some time but she did, he surprised her by not shying away. She would always be beautiful in his eyes, of course that is to say he didn't mind how she looked now. Maybe he could ask her to share the secret, he wouldn't mind looking younger himself.

"Just reminiscing is all," she smirked at him.

"Ah, the old friend to old people like us," Jiraiya joked as he walked a bit closer to her. He held her in his arms and she didn't protest, in fact she rested her head against his chest.

"You ever wish you could do it all over again? Only knowing what would happen back then?" She asked him.

"All the time," he said honestly. There were so many things he would change, try to stop Orochimaru's path into darkness or failing that killing him when he had the chance. Bringing those kids from Rain back with him, he shouldn't have left them on their own like that. Maybe finding a way to save Minato and helping Naruto's life more while he had been growing up. And of course there was Tsunade, what he wouldn't have given to have had a relationship with her a lot earlier.

"But it's best to make with the time we do have," He chuckled.

"So you still spying on the brat and his girlfriends?" She asked him knowing full well the answer.

"Well of course," He grinned down at her, "They're going to be the source of my new book, maybe a new spin off series."

"Pervert," she muttered.

"Yeah but I'm your pervert," He grinned at her. She had to smile at the stupidity of that statement. They had a small silence as Jiraiya got a bit more serious. "I think I put off investigating those rumours for too long. Pretty soon I'll have to go and investigate them myself."

Tsuande got a shiver run through her, and it wasn't a pleasant one. She walked away from him looking out over the village through her window. "Promise me that you'll return, no matter what."

"Tsunade…"

"Promise me!" She shouted, she didn't want to see the fear in her eyes. "I lost too much already, please, don't make me lose yet another person I love. If you do, then I'll never forgive you for it."

Jiraiya knew that this wasn't the Hokage speaking but the woman who was the Hokage. The woman that had lost so much that it had scared her soul for life. He took gentle steps forward and hugged her gently. He felt her tense up a little but she soon relaxed into it. He went to whisper into her ear.

"Very well, you have my promise to always come back to you. As long as I have you to come home to, I'll always have a reason to come back." He said to her.

She smiled at his words and quickly turned around and hugged him close, she nestled into his larger body, feeling the warmth of him was always soothing to her. She just wanted the moment to last forever, to stay like this in this moment.

**-Konoha training field-**

Ino and Sakura weren't sure what Naruto had in mind, although they had a good idea of where they were. Sakura from experience and Ino from one of the left over memories she still had shared from Sakura. The forest was thick but the sound of a waterfall was heard, and both girls knew which one. This was the area where Naruto had trained himself to exhaustion to learn how to use his wind affinity. When the forest finally pulled back and they could see the area with the large waterfall and the large piece of wood high up with it as well. That wasn't all, there in front of the small lake where the water fell, was various clones of Naruto with what looked like a large blanket and were setting something up.

"Is that what I think is it?" Sakura couldn't help but smile.

"I think it is," Ino giggled as she looked on. Naruto had set up a personal picnic for just them.

"I hope you don't mind," Naruto grinned at his girls, "I wanted to make something special so I've been setting this up for the past month."

"The past month?" Both girls asked him at the same time.

Naruto nodded as they walked over, "Yeah. See, I wanted to make something really special. So I was learning a few things like your favorite foods and trying to learn how to cook them. Ayame-neechan was helping me with the cooking at night. And I sort of asked your parents what you really liked to eat."

Both girls were touched by the thought and work that went into this. It was just another big reason why they had fallen for him. He would be very sweet at times like this, who knew that he had a hidden romantic part of him? Well it certainly was a bonus to find that out about him. And they had to admit, the area was a very romantic and beautiful place for this. He led both girls to the cloth as the shadow clones dispersed since they were no longer needed.

Naruto dug into the picnic basket and pulled out three dishes, one for each of them. Their favourites but they weren't surprised to see that he brought some ramen for himself. He also brought with him a few snacks and some drinks. All in all it actually looked very good, both girls knew that he had to have spent a lot of hours working on making sure the meal was just right for them. He was just that kind of guy, to go all out when he set his mind on a goal. In a way it kind of made picking this place even more perfect, this was the place where he had trained harder than ever to learn how to use his wind chakra. Naruto never gave up, no matter the task and he always managed to accomplish what he set out to do. Even if it was just with nothing more than just guts and pure determination, he accomplished his goals.

Ino picked up her chopsticks and tried the piece of fried meat there, she put it into her mouth and was surprised that it wasn't bad. It could use a bit more flavour but given that Naruto's cooking skills normally ended with either ordering in, instant food or ramen, it was a very good.

"Wow, this is pretty good Naruto," Ino said eating another piece.

Sakura nodded, "Yeah, remind us to return the favour for you sometime." Although she had an idea he would want nothing but ramen, honestly that might have been one of the reasons he had been so short as a kid. Then again he had grown up in those years away, she liked the new taller, leaner looking Naruto.

"Hmmm? Something on my face Sakura-chan? You're staring at me," Naruto asked in mid slurp with his ramen noodles.

She blushed as she hadn't caught herself looking, "O-oh it's nothing!"

"I think she's just enjoying the view," Ino smirked looking at Naruto and her eyes really were taking him in. No longer was he the little brat as she had thought of him before, he was a real man now. Maybe it was that day they took on those men that had killed Asuma was when she first really saw it. When he used that Rasenshuriken, and the power it held. She hadn't seen anything like that in her life, it had been the most amazing, powerful and terrifying thing she had ever seen. Never in her life had she ever thought that something like that could be created. She still remembered how in awe she was of its power when Naruto had finally landed a hit with it. Yes, that was when she knew he was a powerful ninja to be respected and proud to know.

Naruto blinked as he looked at the water, "Oh yeah it is."

Both girls sweat dropped, sometimes even Naruto could be a little too clueless that it wasn't cute anymore. But they went back to eating, talking and enjoying their time together. It was such a beautiful day and being alone with each other felt right to them. Hell, it felt normal at this point. Sure there were the little jealous things here and there. Ino feed Naruto a piece of her meal and Sakura didn't want to be left behind. This prompted the girls into a little 'one up' match again. Even as best friends they still had a rivalry thing going, most likely they always would.

Eventually things calmed down between them, and before they stuffed Naruto with half of their food that he cooked himself. They got to talking, mainly about what to plan for their time off. Apparently Naruto was invited over for dinner again by both Sakura and Ino's parents. So they had to pick days for that. It was after that they just laid down on the blanket looking up at the sky.

"Huh, so this is why he's always doing it," Ino said as they watched the clouds. It was surprisingly relaxing.

"Let me guess, a certain lazy teammate?" Sakura asked.

Ino giggled and nodded, "Yeah, now I see why he's always doing it like I said. It's kind of relaxing, I don't think I've just looked at the clouds since I was a kid."

"Yeah same here," Sakura agreed. "That one kind of reminds me of a shuriken."

"Really? I think it's more like a flower to me." Ino said and looked to Naruto. "What about you?"

Naruto squinted and thought about it. "It looks like a piece of ramen to me."

Both girls looked at him and then fell into laughter, well they should have seen that one coming. Naruto pouted at the moment, he got the feeling they were picking on him. But he soon got over it when Ino curled up against him.

"You know we're really lucky to have a great guy like you in our life." Ino told him.

Sakura mirrored her doing the same finding it very comfortable to use Naruto as a pillow. "She's right. Too bad we didn't know now what we knew back then." She snaked an arm around his hip holding him close to her. "But at least we fell in love with the right guy this time around."

"Yeah we sure did," Ino admitted as he placed a hand on his chest.

Naruto looked up to the bright blue sky as both girls rested against him, Sakura on one shoulder and Ino on the other. Both looked to be so relaxed that they might just fall asleep next to him like that. He didn't mind that at all. They looked like sleeping angels to him and he could just stare at them forever. He sighed as he felt their bodies snuggling against his, he felt so lucky in that moment. He never thought anything like this would ever happen to him. He had no idea where this odd style relationship would go, but he wanted to enjoy every moment of it.

Whatever the future held, he would cherish these two. They were his most precious of people and he loved them both with all his heart. He closed his eyes and he felt a peace he hadn't felt in a very long time with both himself, his life and with the world.

**The End.**

**Well I hope you have all enjoyed this, I'll get to the sequel 'Actions and Consequences' when I get the time and also when I come up with a full plot for that story. And to those who keep asking I might do an M rated one shot with the three of them.**

**Also I'm working on a new story. Bleached Vampire, a crossover with Bleach and Rosario+Vampire, I liked both fandoms and wanted to try my hand at both.**


End file.
